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©The
Straits Times, Singapore (Used by permission)
by Reme Ahmad, Assistant Foreign Editor
British varsity, private school to set up in Iskandar
region
JOHOR BARU: A British university and a private Malaysian school have signed up
with Iskandar Malaysia, kick-starting an ambitious move by the Johor development
region to attract Singaporeans and other foreign students.
Newcastle University will open a medical faculty in Iskandar by 2011, while
Malaysian education group Cempaka Schools is to open an international boarding
school for boys in the next few years, it was announced yesterday.
Both institutions will be located in Iskandar's education hub, Educity, which is
near the Second Link at Tuas.
The British faculty will be called Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia, or
NUMed, while the Malaysian group will open the Cempaka International School.
Cempaka Schools is well-known in Malaysia for its private and international
schools.
'The proposed institutions, strategically located within the growth triangles of
Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, will expand Iskandar Malaysia's
infrastructure offerings,' said a statement by Iskandar Investment, which
coordinates projects in the Johor development corridor.
'Universities like Newscastle...see the opportunity of attracting students, not
just from Malaysia, but also from the region,' said British High Commissioner
Boyd McCleary, who was present at the signing ceremony in Johor yesterday.
The development corridor is about three times the size of Singapore and is
expected to be completed in 20 years.
Johor chief minister Abdul Ghani Othman said yesterday that the region has
attracted total investments of RM40.25 billion (S$17 billion) since its
inception in 2006.
These have included foreign property investors from the Middle East and
manufacturing companies from Japan, Spain and Singapore.
Despite the global economic slowdown, Datuk Abdul Ghani expects growth to remain
on an even keel.
The involvement of Newcastle University and Cempaka Schools is just the start of
Iskandar's education-hub ambitions.
It is also wooing other institutions. They include a British boarding school, a
Swiss hospitality college, the applied science faculty of a UK university and a
Malaysian multimedia university, sources told The Straits Times.
A major advantage for international students, officials say, is the lower cost
of getting an education in Malaysia.
'We estimate that it will approximately cost only half of getting our degree
here, than in the UK,' said the incoming chief executive of NUMed, Professor
Reginald Jordan.
NUMed aims to eventually have 900 medical students and plans to invest
RM400million over 30 years.
Datin Frieda Mohd Pilus, chairman of Cempaka Schools, said her Iskandar campus
was expected to take in secondary school students who could expect lower fees
than in Singapore-based international schools.
Educity plans to eventually house eight tertiary faculties on one campus. They
will share facilities like a library, hostels and a sports complex.
Said Mr Abdul Ghani: 'There is one campus occupied by eight different faculties.
Each may come from different universities. It is called an education city with
multiple faculties.'
The boarding schools, on the other hand, will have their own facilities.
A major core of the Iskandar region is located near the Second Link, which aims
to become an international metropolis, officials say.
Apart from Educity, a marina for yachts, a theme park, hotels and residential
villas are part of the blueprint.
Being wooed to Educity
• The medical faculty of Newcastle University.
• Cempaka International School, a Malaysian-owned boarding school for boys.
• Marlborough College, a British boarding school.
• ?cole h?teli?re de Lausanne, a Swiss hospitality school.
• The applied science faculty of Britain's Hull University.
• Malaysia's Multimedia University offering 'creative multimedia' degrees.
• Engineering and business faculties of foreign universities.
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