Introduction

Malaysia has only comparatively recently developed a system of higher education. Pre-1970s there was only a handful of institutions on the Malay Peninsula offering it. Malays were expected to return to agriculture and fishing after completion of their primary education. This whilst other countries in South East Asia had universities centuries old, the first being the University of Santo Tomas in Manilla in 1611.

The start of further education

Further education could be said to have begun on the Malay Peninsula in the 1900s, and was dedicated to teaching technical skills, especially in agriculture and medicine. The first such institution was the King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore. An Education Commission in the 1890s had reported the problem of a shortage of trained medical staff in Penang and Singapore and recommended the establishment of a medical school and, as a result, the King Edward College opened in 1902.

Further technical colleges were opened by the British administration including in 1925, a technical school in Kuala Lumpur, and in 1931 a school for agriculture in Seri Kembangan, now called Universiti Puta Malaysia. Another important centre of further education was the Raffles College in Singapore opened in 1928. All these institutions used the English language in teaching and due to strict admission requirements Malays were largely excluded.

Parallel with the opening of the new English language based institutions were those opened by the Malays where teaching was in the local language. These included the Malacca Training College in 1901, and the Matang Training College in 1913.

The move to university education

By the 1930s the Government was considering the question of whether to establish fully-fledged universities in the territory but concluded that Malaya was not yet ready to have a university but recommended the establishment of university colleges as a half-way house measure. During the next decade various committees met to discuss the issue but nothing was decided.

It was not until 1948 that the Carr-Saunders Commission recommended the immediate establishment of a full university by-passing the need for intermediate university colleges. As a result the University of Malaya was formed on 8th October, 1949.

Establishment of the University of Malaya

In their report the Carr-Saunders Commission recommended that the Malaya university would, “act as a single medium of mingle enhancing the understanding among the multi-ethnics and religions of Malaya”, and that it,“should be modelled after the tertiary educations in the United Kingdom of Great Britain in terms of academic system and administration structure.”

The charter under which the University was established provided for its foundation by the effective amalgamation of two existing institutions, namely the King Edward VII College of Medicine, and the Raffles Institution both based in Singapore.

Finally, in 1961, after the University had opened dual campuses in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, their respective governments approved the establishment of two separate, national universities and on 16th June, 1962, the University of Malaya welcomed its first Chancellor, Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Coat of Arms of the University of Malaya with its motto “Knowledge is the Source of Progress”. Top are represented palm leaves written on in ancient times; the three tigers represent the three main races of Malaysia, Malays, Chinese and Indian; and the hibiscus, the national flower of Malaysia. (Source: Fair use – Wikipedia)

The formation of the University of Malaya (Source: Fair use – Wikipedia)