Malaysia appears to be a hotspot education for Indonesian students and foreign students because there are many public or private universities that have the best ranking in the field. For public universities students can go to University of Malaya, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, International Islamic University Malaysia, however if they want to go to private universities they can choose Taylor’s University, Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU), and Sunway University.
There are five top countries sending their students to study in Malaysia. Those are China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, and Nigeria. Data from the statistics shows that most of them study Social Science and Business Law followed by Science, Mathematics, and Computing. The degree that is mostly taken by the students is the Undergraduate Degree followed by the Master Degree and the least is PhD.
Based on the data taken from Education Malaysia there are eight reasons why overseas students choose Malaysia to continue their study; its universities have widely-recognized programs, a modern and progressive nation, most of its people speak English, multicultural, reasonable living cost, peaceful and friendly nation, dynamic lifestyle, and strategic location.
While for Indonesian students the two main reasons are strategic location and its culture; it is close to Indonesia and has similar culture. If they feel homesick, they can just book a ticket and go home anytime and regarding the culture it is not hard for them to adapt to the new environment. I believe some overseas students pursue their degree in Malaysia because of some positive reasons mentioned above and most of them study at private universities.
As foreign students continuing studies abroad and specifically in Malaysia, in order to survive the new environment, we need to know our surroundings, not only the environment around the campus, but also especially the other students. One of the main challenges while interacting/socializing to one another is the new local cultures and mixed cultures that are brought by the foreign student and Malaysian students which have the influence of Malay, Chinese, and Indian cultures.
Did you know that a large portion of the population in public universities are mostly occupied with Malay ethnicity. On the other side, private universities are mostly dominated by the Chinese and Indians, making interactions with different cultures more challenging. The difference between Malay culture, Chinese, and Indian are not a lot, but it can be categorized as different. Malay culture is very familiar to Indonesian, sharing the same festivals. For example, in the religion Islam, they celebrate Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr. Meanwhile for all Chinese people, no matter the religion, they celebrate a well known holiday called Chinese New Year. And yet for Indians, they have a very well known holiday named Deepavali, where every religion and every citizen in India celebrates by lighting up candles and decorating their homes.
Studying and understanding different cultures is essential, particularly in the context of studying abroad and engaging in collaborative projects. As we interact with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds, having a deep appreciation and understanding the communication styles can significantly enhance teamwork. For instance, when discussing project topics and planning collaborative efforts, clear communication is key. Understanding the cultural perspectives of your team members can make these conversations smoother and more productive, ultimately fostering better collaboration. This cultural awareness not only improves team dynamics but also proves invaluable for networking, as it allows for more effective and respective interactions across cultural boundaries. With advanced networking, we are able to do programs much easier without any obstacles. For example, an internship that is needed by University.
Those who aren’t ready to socialize more with individuals who come from a different country or either study about their cultures will prefer working in the same group with students who originated from the same country. Even if we push ourselves to interact with more students from different countries, we will get used to working together with other people from different countries. This can serve as a valuable asset when searching for a job later on, meaning that mixing cultures also trains our daily skills such as flexibility, adaptability, and a strong competitive spirit.
It is important why we need to know/recognize other cultures from other students because we do not want to have misunderstandings with our new friends, we need to enrich our knowledge of other cultures, and we have to be able to live in diversity. Those three reasons will help us to adapt to the new environment in the university. Regarding this matter, what we need is to have an open-minded point of view. We cannot have the opinion that our culture is better than others’. This will lead us to be isolated in society.
Besides getting ourselves to learn about their culture, we also need to be active in some clubs on campus. You can join some activities where you can meet and work together with some international students. By joining the clubs, you can know more of your foreign friends and you can have mutual understanding on mixing cultures. One thing that is fun for me is we need to learn our friends’ native language.
The challenge of overcoming mixing cultures isn’t only limited to interactions with fellow university students, even the professors or lecturers in Malaysia come from diverse ethnic backgrounds, including Malay, Chinese, and Indian. And not only that, universities frequently invite guest lectures that come from countries outside of Malaysia. Oftentimes, culture unknowingly affects the way a person thinks, whether it’s the culture they bring from their home country or the new culture they encounter when entering a new environment.
I, myself, am one of the students who has an experience of studying abroad. One of my most memorable years was back when I was living in Australia. Many people from Australia came from countries outside of Australia with different cultural backgrounds. For example, I have a friend originating from Greece, while the other was from Vietnam. Despite having different cultural backgrounds, I was still able to push myself to interact with them, leading to understanding their cultures. And of course, they did the same towards me. But after 3 years in Australia, I moved back to Indonesia and of course, having half of my childhood in Australia and moving back to Indonesia with many more different cultures was very shocking to me, leading to something known as culture shock. But from time to time, I’ve managed to overcome my problem and make more friends, despite myself still struggling to try understanding about the social standards in Indonesia. But of course, after staying in Indonesia I had to follow my mum by moving to Malaysia and continuing my studies there. Fortunately, I didn’t need to adjust much unlike in Australia because their culture is very familiar to ours!
Entering a university, no matter if it’s public or private in Malaysia, we will always encounter the same big challenges because the environment is far different compared to Indonesia. Things that we must essentially prepare before studying abroad is to strengthen our mental and be able to quickly adapt with the environment. Understanding of a new environment, finding new friends, and the working system in universities will be extremely helpful, making studying in Malaysia a much more enjoyable experience.
Those are some tips from me on how to cope with mixing cultures in university in Malaysia. I hope these can help you adapt to the new environment and welcome to Malaysia!