Malaysia launch: Message from Tony Downes

Monday, 22 February 2016

The launch of University of Reading Malaysia this week is an exciting moment for me.

It was nearly 10 years ago that we first started exploring what it means to be an international university. We used to receive an invitation a week to set up a campus overseas.

The University has a strong international reputation and we were keen that our choice helped build this further. We already had presence in Africa through the Henley Business School in Johannesburg, so we focused on Asia.

China, India and Malaysia were among the countries we considered for setting up a campus. Malaysia was chosen for a number of reasons. Many of our international students come from there and the region has a strong alumni network. We already had experience of delivering our law degree in Malaysia in partnership with a local university. The country was also trying to establish itself as an education hub and invited us to set up a campus here.

Our state-of-the-art campus, that gets unveiled this week, is in the rapidly developing region of Iskandar. It is just 30 minutes across the Straits from Singapore (on a good day!) and has a big demand for high quality education.

Best of both worlds

University of Reading Malaysia is offering students the “best of both worlds” – a world-class degree at an affordable price, delivered at a location that is convenient to them.

Top-class courses in business and finance, psychology, real estate, surveying and pharmacy help us offer our best to students in Malaysia and the region. This matters in a market that is extremely competitive.

Traditionally, some students in Malaysia and the region have looked at Australian universities for higher education. The two important factors in this have been the proximity to Malaysia and the quality of education that Australia offers.

A campus in Malaysia provides us the proximity to target students for Foundation, Undergraduate and postgraduate courses, and these are in turn a potential pipeline to study in the UK, as we have already seen. The work we are doing towards accrediting our courses in Malaysia will establish the strong quality of what we offer.

Our teaching and the courses we deliver are to UK standards, and the only adjustments we make are to the context. A case study from Malaysia or the region could be more relevant to a student than a case study from another part of the world.

The Malaysia campus has a lot to offer too. UoRM provides the University a base to project our world-class research and teaching strength to Malaysia and Asia through the research events and short courses we are able to hold here – in climate change and meteorology; multilingualism; food and nutrition; agriculture and health research. It provides an opportunity for further research and partnerships that could result in a lasting impact on society.

Our international team, already drawn from 5 different nationalities, brings experience of education in different parts of the world which enriches and enhances our own understanding and what we offer to our students.

As someone with experience of teaching in different parts of the world, I can definitely say Malaysia is an exciting place to be. When I was growing up, Europe was the big coming thing, and my time as a postgraduate student in France helped shape my career. Today, Asia is the big coming thing. If you are a student, I would suggest, ‘Get an experience of living, learning and working in Asia’. If you are a member of staff, my advice would be to do the same.

The University currently offers secondment of three to five years in the disciplines we offer; we also provide an opportunity for those seeking a future in academic work to get an early start on the career ladder, and welcome applications from recent PhD graduates and also those in the professional services seeking to broaden their early career experience. Such opportunities will grow as more students join UoRM.

If you are interested in exploring these opportunities, UoRM COO Paula Sanderson will be in the UK in April and I will be there in the summer.

Also on the launch of University of Reading Malaysia: