``MALAYSIA’S EXCELLENT HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM KEEPING MORE STUDENTS AT HOME``

By Neville D'Cruz

MELBOURNE, Dec 16 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has been knocked out of the top spot
when it comes to foreign student numbers in Adelaide.

This is no surprise to Adelaide International Village managing director
Hassan Salleh, who operates the Bradford and Highgate lodges in Adelaide housing
a total of 250 international students.

"Malaysia's educational institutions are gaining greater recognition as
quality places for further studies and more Malaysians are staying back to study
at Malaysian universities," he said.

"This must be pleasing to the Malaysian government because, first of all,
the country is providing first-class education and, secondly, they are not
exporting education money overseas," he said.

"It is also pleasing that students from other countries are going to
Malaysia for higher education because of Malaysia's reputation as a centre of
excellence in education is spreading," he added.

With about 3,000 Malaysian students in Adelaide, Malaysia now sits in third
place behind China, which has surged to the number one position with about 7,000
students, and India with about 4,500.

While more Malaysians may be choosing to study at home, Hassan said there
had still been a sizeable increase in the numbers coming to Adelaide. During the
past few years, the numbers have doubled from 1,500 to 3,000, he said.

And the number of international students choosing to study in Adelaide has
recently increased by about 30 per cent, a jump Hassan attributes to
diversification and effective marketing by Adelaide's educational institutions.

"Educational institutions in Adelaide have to send their representatives
overseas to market their products and they are doing it very well," he said.

"They have diversified from offering the traditional university education.
They now have institutions which offer advanced courses as well as foundation
and degree transfer courses. They also offer intensive English as a precursor to
the mainstream courses."



But affordable accommodation has not kept up pace with the surge in
international student numbers, Hassan said.

Bradford and Highgate lodges have to turn away up to 700 students a year
because of a lack of vacancies.

A shortage of affordable accommodation has been reported in Australian
cities, including Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne, during the past few years.

-- BERNAMA