A Narrative Review Paper: The Gateway to Asia: Bringing in an Influx of International Students to Malaysia through Malaysia’s Unique and Head-Turning Narratives

Higher Education in Malaysia, particularly private higher education is one of the contributors to the country’s economy through services sector. Throughout 2015-2020, Malaysian economy grew at an average annual rate of 2.7%, mainly driven by the services and manufacturing sectors. The services sector was significantly contributed by the traditional services subsector at 71.1%, while the balance 28.9% was by the modern services subsector, in which private education services is one of the subsectors. According to the data by Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS), Malaysia has recorded a downward trend in 2018 and 2019 and steady increase of international students’ applications in 2020 and 2021. The positive trend signals a growing interests from international students in pursuing study in Malaysia. Furthermore, according to the data by Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), it is seen that the biggest fraction of international students in Malaysia is from South Asia region and considerable portions of them are from East Asia, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Southeast Asia (SEA) and Africa regions. Thus, it can be concluded that the data predominantly shows that a very small fraction of international students is from the first-world or high income countries. Therefore, the current marketing narratives are suggested to be reviewed and improved by incorporating Malaysian identity across online and offline touch-points; boasting Malaysia’s expertise and advancement; leveraging Malaysia’s Foreign University Branch Campuses; defining Malaysia via niche industry-focused curriculum and universities; and empowering international alumni as Malaysia’s Mini Education Ambassadors (MEA).