Over 16,200 Middle East, North African students now in Malaysia

Source Saudi Press Agency

Dubai, October 03 , SPA -- The number of students from Middle East and North African region in Malaysia reached 16,299 as of July, this year, BERNAMA news agency quoted Dubai-based Malaysia Education Promotion Centre (MEPC) regional director Shushilil Azam Shuib as saying.

He said this had surpassed the revised target of 15,000 students by 2010, set by Malaysia's Ministry of Higher Education.

Iran topped the list with 4,878 students, followed by Yemen (2,688), Sudan (1,600), Iraq (1,400), Saudi Arabia (1,271), Somalia (1,231), Libya (975) and Jordan (561).

According to the list, the United Arab Emirates has 11 students in Malaysia, a Southeast Asian nation of 27 million which aims to become a regional education hub.

Altogether, 25 countries in the Middle East and North Africa have sent their students to Malaysia.

Shushilil Azam said when the ministry decided to set up MEPC Dubai, there were only about 3,000 students from this region studying at Malaysian institutions.

"From the start in 2004, our office undertook many promotional activities and the outcome had been positive as by the end of that year, we managed to enrol almost 4,700 students," he told BERNAMA. Spurred by this development, the ministry went on to set a target of 10,000 students to be enrolled at Malaysian education institutions by the end of 2010.

"It was a real challenge for our office. However, we took it seriously by embarking on aggressive promotional campaigns across the region," said Shushilil Azam.

According to him, after just three years of operation, MEPC Dubai crossed the target, attracting over 11,400 students by the end of last year.

"Since we achieved the target ahead of time, the ministry revised its target to 15,000 students by 2010," he said of the new target which had since been achieved.