In the southern tip of peninsular Malaysia, only a stone’s throw from the busy and bustling Singapore, lies Johor, a state known mainly as a passageway to the neighbouring island nation.

Johor has not been involved in a lot of tourism-related activities or other factors that would lure internationals to the region.

But now an area called Nusajaya near Johor Bahru is being marketed as a future cosmopolitan, multi-varsity education hub with plenty of services and industries—an activity run by Iskandar Investment. One of the area’s main developments is Educity@Iskandar, which aims to significantly improve the education system in the region and beyond.

There is a clear demand for a new education hub in Malaysia. Currently the country has approximately 16,000 international students studying in private and international schools, and the amount is only increasing.

The education district in Nusajaya strives to bring global education providers of various disciplines to the country in upcoming years; these already include several schools and universities from a variety of different countries.

The thriving student city is being developed as the heart of the entire area. The young people studying in the various schools and universities will be accommodated in the international student village right in the middle of Educity.

The impressive, 305-acre development has caught the attention of a variety of universities, colleges, skilled training institutions, international schools, research and development facilities and regional training centres.

One of the first is the medical faculty of Newcastle University in the UK, which will open a campus in Educity in 2011, named NUMed Malaysia. Two batches of Malaysian students who have started their degree at the university’s UK campus are welcomed back home to finish their studies.

The university’s aim is to deliver a cost-effective medical programme—tuition fees are slightly cheaper than the ones in the UK—without compromising the quality. The purpose is also to translate the benefits of the academic endeavour for the benefit of Malaysian society and the greater Asian region.

Chris Brink, vice chancellor of Newcastle University, is thrilled about the cooperation. “Clearly, this is a growth area, and in a very farsighted manner the government of Malaysia is anchoring development with an educational centre. It’s hugely attractive for us to be part of that, and it increases our international profile,” he says.

Other education institutes opening at Educity include the Netherlands Maritime Institute of Technology (NMIT), which will be set up by The Dutch Maritiem Instituut Willem Barentz, and Maritiem Instituut de Ruyter in 2012.

It is hoped that opening the maritime university will further support the development of Malaysian ports, shipping and logistics, shipbuilding and ship repair and the offshore oil and gas sectors, especially in the development of human capital.

In 2013, degree programmes will be offered, including twinning programmes with universities in the Netherlands.

“Many of the regional students who ultimately wish to study and work in Europe would see that NMIT will provide them with a good platform to bridge across the European job market. Many Netherlands multinationals operate all across the globe; they utilise high numbers of foreigners to support the variety of activities,” tells Captain Razali Yaacob, managing director of Maritime Intelligence, the operating company of NMIT.

He says the university will adopt international standards in executing the programmes and in preparing its graduates to be market ready.

NMIT see that, without a doubt, establishing the maritime university will strengthen the relationship between the Netherlands and Malaysia. “NMIT will be the catalyst for greater bilateral ties between Malaysia and the Netherlands.

It will be an essential linkage to the diverse culture and expertise of the two nations. The world will observe Malaysian and Dutch professionals working together, undertaking projects of worldclass standard. It has been done in the past, is happening now, and much more in the near future through NMIT.”

Singaporeans have stepped in the game as well, and no wonder—Educity lies only eight or so kilometres from Singapore’s Second Link. The first Singaporean private tertiary institution to set up an extensive full-fledged campus in Iskandar Malaysia is the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS), which will open its campus by 2013.

MDIS chose Iskandar for its first foray into Malaysia “because of the infrastructure, logistics and other physical amenities and facilities, and close proximity to other sectors in Iskandar such as tourism and financial services,” tells MDIS secretary general Dr R Theyvendran.

He adds Malaysia has great potential since some 800,000 students are currently enrolled in higher education across the country.

“The majority of students who attend the Johor campus will be Malaysians, followed by students from other countries. Students have the opportunity to benefit from a truly global and transnational education across MDIS’s three campuses: Singapore, Uzbekistan and Malaysia.”

Secondary education is well represented in Educity, too. Marlborough College, an international coeducational boarding school with a British curriculum—a place where Kate Middleton among others has been educated— is expected to open its Malaysia campus in September 2012.

The new school will offer IB and GCSE qualifications, ultimately catering for up to 432 pupils in the day preparatory school and 915 pupils in the predominantly boarding 11–18-year-old senior school.

The school is located just outside EduCity, simply because they require a lot of space: nine rugby pitches and other sports facilities. In Educity, there will also be a trust school aimed for bright and underprivileged Malaysian students.

Master Bob Pick from Marlborough College Malaysia explains that they decided in a strategic discussion back in 2005 “that Marlborough UK had become too monocultural and Anglocentric, which was not the ideal combination to educate young people for a global world.

One way to address this problem was to form new establishments in different parts of the world to allow for exchanges and cultural interaction.”

The college decided to look towards Asia for its first school and felt that the opportunity in Iskandar was by far the best that was presented to them. “We have excellent supportive partners in Iskandar Investment who, like us, see this as an opportunity to bring a high quality educational institution to Malaysia.

The decision was taken on educational grounds and we believe that, ultimately, it will become part of a global network of Marlborough schools, which will differentiate the school from any other.”

Chief executive officer Ir Khairil Anwar Ahmad from Education@Iskandar sees certain advantages to studying in Malaysia.

He thinks Singaporean education institutes have a totally different vision. “We are by no means trying to compete with KL or Singapore. We offer something different—specified faculties that cater for certain interests,” he says.

He explains that a college with creative courses would cater to their need for innovative workforce in the area, whereas a programme in logistics would be an easy solution for their logistic needs.

The urban learning environment will be located in close proximity to the economic pillars of Iskandar Malaysia, including the Iskandar Financial District in Medini and Kota Iskandar. “The Educity is actually our main purpose.

The other developments are more like feeder activities; the students need accommodation, entertainment, food and jobs,” says vice president Rosman Mohd Sedek from Iskandar Investment. He says their target is to have 1.2 million people residing in the newlydeveloped area within the upcoming years.

At the moment, the rural-looking Nusajaya still seems everything but a bustling business centre, except for the construction sites. Universities, condominiums, shopping centres, bridges, a huge marina and a variety of other infrastructure are being built.

The scalesize model of future developments is very ambitious—the rapid changes to the area see high-end apartments, amusement parks like the famous Legoland and even a man-made luxury resort island. It certainly is the beginning of a new chapter in Johor.

EduCity contacts

Iskandar Investment
www.iskandarinvestment.com

Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia
Tel: 03–7956 7655
www.ncl.ac.uk/numed

Management Development Institute of Singapore
www.mdis.edu.sg

Maritime Institute Willem Barentsz
www.miwb.nl

Marlborough College Malaysia
www.marlboroughcollege.org/col_Malaysia.aspx