China News Service, Kuala Lumpur, October 22 (Reporter Liu Yuying) In a recent exclusive interview with China News Service, Malaysian Deputy Minister of Education Huang Jiahe said that Malaysia is leveraging its advantages in multi-lingual and multi-cultural education to promote the expansion of educational cooperation with China from traditional talent exchanges to vocational education, artificial intelligence and digital education.
"Diversity is not a stumbling block to the country's progress, but an important cornerstone of future development." Huang Jiahe said.
Malaysia has a relatively complete Chinese education system and has formed a multilingual education environment. Huang Jiahe believes that education from different sources does not conflict with national identity. At present, non-Chinese students account for about 20% of the total number of Chinese primary school students, which not only reflects the improvement of the practical value of the Chinese language, but also promotes cultural understanding between ethnic groups.
This diverse educational background also provides a foundation for Malaysia-China cooperation.
Huang Jiahe introduced that in 2024, Chinese Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng will visit Malaysia, and the two sides will focus on exchanging vocational education experience. Malaysia established the National Vocational Education Council in 2023 to coordinate related affairs that were originally scattered among multiple departments, and continue to arrange for teachers, students and practitioners to go to China for training.
"China's vocational education has matured and is worthy of learning from Malaysia." Huang Jiahe said that professional exchanges between the two sides continue to advance.
Artificial intelligence is another potential area of collaboration. Malaysia plans to gradually teach basic knowledge and applications of artificial intelligence to primary and secondary school students starting in 2027. China’s experience in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) and digital education can be used for reference.
Huang Jiahe emphasized that the key to cooperation is to promote mutual visits between teachers and students, classroom observation and teaching exchanges. For example, he said that a Chinese primary school in Kuala Lumpur has launched online classroom exchanges with Chinese schools in 2024, showing that grassroots cooperation is being continuously explored.
Chinese universities have long been an important further education choice for Malaysian Chinese independent secondary school graduates, and Malaysia’s multilingual environment and higher education resources also attract Chinese students. Starting from the end of 2024, Malaysia will set up University English Proficiency Test (MUET) test centers in some Chinese universities to facilitate Chinese students to study in Malaysia.
While promoting international exchanges, Huang Jiahe also faces the challenge of domestic education resource allocation. He listed school construction, relocation and alleviating teacher shortages as priorities during his tenure, and promoted the expansion of teacher training and increased funding for Chinese schools.
Wong Ka-woo, a long-time member of Parliament and state assemblyman, also served as chairman of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee. Shifting from legislation and supervision to administrative work, Huang Jiahe realized that reform requires not only putting forward proposals, but also winning the trust of all parties and coordinating different interests within the existing system. He believes that this experience of seeking consensus amidst differences is also applicable to Malaysia-China educational cooperation. The two countries do not need to copy each other's education models, but should leverage their respective advantages to achieve mutual benefit through talent exchanges and mutual learning of experience.
