The UCSI University, one of the top-ranked and largest private universities in Malaysia, has gone transnational with the soft launch of its first international branch campus in Bangladesh.
The new campus will be established in Dhaka's Banani and academic activities will be commenced in May this year.
Malaysia's Higher Education Minister Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin disclosed the information at the launch event held at UCSI's Kuala Lumpur campus on Friday.
He said the launch dovetailed well with the ministry's internationalisation plans aiming to expand higher education.
"The UCSI University Bangladesh will boost Malaysia's status as a global education hub, and I commend UCSI for this post-pandemic initiative," he said
The minister also said "I encourage more private providers to consider similar arrangements. The Malaysian brand of higher education is synonymous with quality, and we can impact international markets."
At present, the university operates three campuses in Kuala Lumpur, Kuching and Port Dickson. Around 100 Bangladeshi students are studying at the university.
UCSI Vice-Chancellor (VC) Professor Siti Hamisah Tapsir said: "Our new campus would initially focus on teaching and learning before moving up the value chain."
"To optimise graduate outcomes and improve life chances, we will offer programmes that reflect the needs and economic trends outlined by our Bangladeshi partners," she said.
She said, "We will move on to prioritise research, executive education and cross-campus collaboration in line with the organic growth of the new campus."
It is the first time UCSI is committing to a branch campus overseas. UCSI's Bangladesh campus will commence at a 45,000 square feet campus with 24 degree and masters programmes in different subjects including business, computer science, engineering, architecture, social sciences and design.
The campus is projected to enrol around 5,000 students over seven years. Operations will move to a three-acre purpose-built site that houses over 200,000 square feet of space with all modern facilities within this period.
UCSI was Malaysia's top private university in the QS World University Rankings 2023. Ranked 284, UCSI is classified in the world's top 1 per cent.
Rehana Parvin, First Secretary (Political) of the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia is also present at the event.
UCSI University has already got approval from the Bangladesh government in December last year and it is the first branch campus of any foreign university in Bangladesh.
Currently, Bangladesh has 53 public and 109 private universities.
According to the latest report of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 49,151 students went in 2022.
In 2022, the highest number of 8,665 Bangladeshi students went to the US for higher education.
The second highest 7,548 students went to Malaysia and 5,647 to Australia in 2022.
