I want to talk about education, and I promise not to scream about how bad our education system is. Instead, Ill talk about the choices available when sending our children overseas for tertiary education.
By education, I mean getting a university degree as opposed to going abroad just so that you can open a hair salon that proudly proclaims youre London-trained. People of a certain age would know what I mean.
Many Malaysians arent happy with our education system whether with its quality or the lack of opportunities and some send their children to study abroad, often making big financial sacrifices for it.
Obviously, they expect great returns from their investment and sacrifices. Many feel universities in the Anglo countries the English-speaking ones, mainly the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, even Ireland offer the best education for their admittedly high costs.
Sadly, most parents dont really send their kids to these universities to be educated, or to learn about life, people and the world, and also how to think critically. Rather, they just want their kids to be trained into lawyers, doctors, accountants or engineers, and hence become employable.
This isnt necessarily wrong. One critical function of education is to prepare a young person to be independent and self-reliant. But the costs of doing so are high and rising fast, making the investments or sacrifices needed increasingly risky.
Another risk is how many employers nowadays hire young people who took a different route instead vocational studies, professional qualifications, or early entries into the working world rather than getting traditional, often inflexible and sometimes outdated university degrees.
But for most, a university degree is still a must. Foreign universities certainly have their attractions name recognition and reputation, the opportunity to learn to be independent, network and live in a multicultural environment, and possibly (but not necessarily) getting a higher quality education.
So where should you cast your glance when considering foreign university education? To me the answer is clear: look beyond just the usual suspects in the Anglosphere.
I had a friend whose daughter attended Sorbonne University in Paris, Frances equivalent of Oxbridge, even if it isnt so well-known in the non-French speaking world. How much was the fee in this publicly-funded university? Just 500 euros per year, or barely over RM3,000.
When I remarked that life in Paris must be expensive, my friend said her daughter enjoyed many student discounts, so much so that the cost of living was cheaper than in a similar large European city, such as London.
I have my own story. Two of my broods chose to study in Japan. After their pre-university studies in Tokyo, they were admitted to highly prestigious universities and completed their four-year degrees.
How much did that cost me? I honestly cannot remember, probably because back then I was still in shock at the cost of sending another child to Australia for studies. I can say for sure the costs in Japan didnt come anywhere close to what I forked out for the Australian degree.
But Tokyo is expensive, you say. Indeed it is, but its much more affordable to its residents than it is to visitors. Still not cheap, but not debilitatingly expensive either, and given the yen hadnt appreciated that much against the ringgit, it was and remains more affordable.
Whats the common thread in these stories? Its this. All the studies were done in local languages: French and Japanese. Had they studied in these countries in English, they would have had to pay much higher tuition fees.
Some may question the quality of these universities, given that we arent very familiar with them and they dont seem to score very high in university rankings, compared with many universities in Anglo countries.
Unfortunately, these rankings were created by the Anglo countries, and are more of a marketing tool for their own universities. Many of the non-Anglo universities are actually better than their rankings may indicate.
For example, the science and engineering faculty in Sorbonne was set up by Marie and Pierre Curie over a hundred years ago, and the university itself had won more Nobel prizes than all of Asia combined.
If you want to send your child to study automotive engineering, would you have a problem choosing Germany or Japan? If you do, then I can only surmise you dont believe in the technology and quality of a BMW, Mercedes or Lexus. Youd be in a very small group of people, my friend.
Japan, the European countries, and increasingly Korea and China all offer high quality education. But unlike the more capitalistic Anglo countries, these countries see education as a critical social responsibility and hence offer it to their citizens at affordable rates, or even for free.
Given that their degrees arent as popular as those in English-speaking countries, there isnt a long queue of foreigners wanting to study there. Theres no incentive for them to jack up prices for foreigners. Here, paying peanuts doesnt mean you get monkeys.
Other non-traditional countries, especially the oil-rich Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries, are also investing in high-quality universities.
One of my broods did a masters in a Central Asian country, on a full scholarship at a showpiece university staffed with some of the best academics from Ivy-League universities. Said child is now pursuing a PhD at a top US university, so quality was definitely not an issue.
However, your children must be fluent in those languages: Japanese, French or German, or even Korean, Mandarin or Arabic. Language is wealth in todays highly globalised world. The more languages you speak, the better it is for you. And we Malaysians are already very good at being multilingual.
So parents, if you want your kids to study overseas, remember youll be able to send two or three kids elsewhere, whereas youd barely be able to afford sending even one to an Anglo country.
Many Anglo countries, especially the UK, also face crises with their university systems, resulting in many institutions cutting programmes, merging or even going bankrupt. Their governments are also making it harder for foreign students to go there for studies.
Its these countries fault. They have been sticking up foreign students for years, partly for profit and partly to subsidise their own domestic students. Theyve also been lowering standards; in the UK, almost a third of undergraduates are awarded a first-class honours degree. Its just not sustainable.
All these considerations aside, Im sure youve been following the developments about the growing social unrest in the UK. Its a real concern, but something I never lost any sleep over when my kids were in Japan.
If you really do care about your children having a good university education in English, do what another of my friends did. He sent his daughter to a top university in South Africa. Its one of the best universities in the African continent, but still came at a very affordable cost.
All of these options sound scary to most people, but trust me do your research, ask some important questions, and examine your assumption that everything from the Anglo countries is the best. Youll probably realise you have more choices than you thought you did.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.