Our UK – Malaysia University Consortium, launched in 2022, brings together all 20 of Malaysia’s public universities and 16 UK higher education institutions. Its purpose is to greatly expand the scale, scope and pace of long-term international higher education engagement and collaboration between the two countries, and with partners in the wider ASEAN network and beyond. 

Part of our world-wide Going Global Partnerships programme, this flagship initiative has been set up by the British Council in Malaysia working in cooperation with Malaysia’s Ministry of Higher Education.

Purpose

By working together, UK and Malaysia partners will:

  • embrace projects that expand higher education capacity, quality, mobility and employability
  • promote more inclusive and equal access to higher education
  • tap the potential for outstanding advances in research, finding solutions to the critical global challenges of our age, such as climate change, healthcare and food poverty
  • drive greater innovation and quality in teaching and delivery
  • advance progress towards shared Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
  • strengthen perceptions of the Malaysia and the UK as international centres of higher education excellence and progress, enabling them to better compete for new collaborative initiatives and resources
  • develop a fresh, intense and sustainable programme of international collaborative excellence
  • support partnerships that focus on desired outcomes set out in the higher education strategies of the UK and Malaysia

The UK - Malaysia University Consortium is in lockstep with the Malaysian Government’s ambition to upscale the international performance and relevance of its higher education system, making it more globally competitive and adaptive to the demand for diverse and flexible delivery, particularly in the context of rapid technological change, increased digitalisation and a global Covid-19 pandemic.  

Like the UK, Malaysia sees sustainable international partnership as the best way to hasten advances in quality, research innovation and capacity. It seeks to create talented, resilient and entrepreneurial graduates who are employable, open to diverse international perspectives and who take ownership of the future of their own country within the wider world. 

  • Malaysian Higher Education Blueprint 2015-2025 
  • UK International Education Strategy 

Members, governance and funding

Initial funding from the British Council supports the Consortium in its first two years, in addition to a package of Catalyst Grants, initially focused on partnerships aimed at boosting graduate employability.

Our insight and in-depth knowledge of the local and UK higher education landscapes and communities, and our experience in unravelling the complexities of international partnership, directly inform the development of our Going Global Partnerships programme in Malaysia. This enables us to source the right partner expertise and commitment necessary for a pan-regional, international consortium project of this scope and scale. 

The Consortium is led by a Project Board, comprising:

  • British Council
  • Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia
  • Consortium Secretariat (for 2022, this is Liverpool John Moores University, UK)
  • Selected representatives of consortium member institutions from UK and Malaysia
UK Malaysia
Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) – Consortium Secretariat International Islamic University Malaysia
Cardiff University  Islamic Science University of Malaysia
University of Nottingham  MARA University of Technology
University of Suffolk  National Defence University of Malaysia
University of East Anglia  National University of Malaysia
University of Surrey  Northern University of Malaysia
Cardiff Metropolitan University  Putra University of Malaysia
University of York  Sultan Idris Education University
University of Glasgow Sultan Zainal Abidin University
Coventry University Technical University of Malaysia
Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) Tun Hussein Onn University of Malaysia
University of Bournemouth University of Malaya
University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) University of Malaysia, Kelantan
University of Gloucestershire (UoG) University of Malaysia, Pahang
Kings College London (KCL) University of Malaysia, Perlis
University of Portsmouth University of Malaysia, Sabah
  University of Malaysia, Sarawak
  University of Malaysia, Terengganu
  University of Science Malaysia
  University of Technology Malaysia

Activities

Opportunity

Contact

If you’d like to partner with us, the UK – Malaysia University Consortium, or find out more about upcoming opportunities to collaborate in higher education, email: MY_KUL1_Education@britishcouncil.org.my
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