Blueprint to be shared and reviewed

Move to ensure transparency and accountability, says Muhyiddin

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 (Higher Education) will be shared with other world bodies such as Unesco to ensure transparency and accountability, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Other than that, the blueprint would be reviewed regularly, with reports published annually by a Putrajaya higher education committee that will be set up to realise the targets in the blueprint.

The committee will be chaired by Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, and its members will include Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh, public sector leaders, the Performance and Delivery Unit, academics, industry leaders, non-governmental organisations and other experts.

“It will be hands-on for me as I will monitor the implementation of the plan,” he said in his speech before Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak launched the blueprint yesterday.

“Whenever necessary, we are committed to making tough decisions to ensure that the quality of outcomes meets the expectations of the rakyat,” he said, adding that input from more than 10,500 stakeholders were taken into account when formulating the blueprint.

The blueprint also took into account studies by the World Bank, Unesco and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

“A key goal is to nurture wellrounded individuals who are experts in their areas of expertise, strongly grounded in ethics and spirituality, and capable of taking up jobs in any high-income economy,” he said, adding that the 10 shifts in the blueprint aim to achieve just that. ( see table)

Muhyiddin said there would be a CEO Faculty Programme that would see prominent corporate figures such as AirAsia group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Khazanah Nasional group managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar, Media Prima Bhd chairman Tan Sri Johan Jaafar and JobStreet founder Mark Chang guest-lecturing, joining panel discussions and co-teaching in higher learning institutes.

“The financial sustainability of the National Higher Education Fund Corporation will also be improved by shifting to an income contingent loan payback formula,” Muhyiddin said, explaining that this meant borrowers would start servicing their loans after reaching a certain income threshold.

“In terms of managing institutes of higher learning, the ministry would shift from being ‘tight controllers’ to ‘regulatory and policymakers’,” he said.

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