Snapshots of Malaysian Academics in International Engagement

Abstract

Higher education academics in Malaysia are encouraged to enhance their outreach and international experience via engagement beyond the campus. Such activities are considered paramount in fostering competence, credibility and relevance of the Malaysian higher education system as a whole. This paper explores the experiences and perceptions of internationalisation based on the Academic Profession in the Knowledge-Based Society (APIKS) global survey on academics (n=4368) in Malaysian higher education institutions (2019–2020). The primary purpose is to highlight Malaysian academics’ perceptions of internationalisation in their teaching, research and publication activities as well as their perceptions of the outcomes of internationalisation, including their institutional strategies and support for internationalisation. In addition, cross-sectional analyses of various groups (education background, rank and university types) were carried out to see the differences between them in internationalisation activities. The findings indicate that while Malaysian academics were quite international in their teaching and research orientations, this was less pronounced in their publications. International outcomes leaned strongly towards enhancing institutional reputation and academic quality. While the respondents had positive responses to institutional strategies for internationalisation, they seemed less assured of sufficient commitment, in terms of funding, to support scholarly activities. The findings also confirm the existence of differences among age groups, institution types and ranks on individual international research and publication practices. This paper concludes with recommendations for policy and practice on academic mobility, research support and professional development.