Greetings and very warm wishes.
It gives me tremendous pleasure to be writing this foreword on behalf of a fast growing group of educational institutions located in Malaysia’s capital of Kuala Lumpur. In the last 2 decades, the progress of higher education in Malaysia has been quite exceptional where there has been tremendous birth of new private higher educational institutions throughout the country. The growth has seen many foreign branch campuses coming into being such as Monash, Heriot-Watt, Newcastle, Nottingham etc. offering a huge variety of courses from the Arts to the Sciences. This growth has also brought into the country a huge number of foreign students, thereby establishing Malaysia as a favourite education hub, mainly due to English being used widely, tuition fees being considerably lower compared to the established education hubs of US, UK and Australia, and the general education standard being internationally recognized.
It is noteworthy that in May 2011 a young Malaysian entrepreneur, Dr Poa Chun Seong decided to venture into the higher education and vocational training business after having accumulated a decade of experience in the administration of similar private institutions. Through ownership of South East Asia Academy Sdn Bhd (SEAA), the group he lead now owns Elite International College, SEA Academy College, HRDF Training Centre and the Cahaya Suria Language Centre. From its humble beginning 4 years ago, the student number has rapidly grown to about 2000 students of which 50% are international students from 17 countries. The blend of local and international programs has made the institution highly attractive to both local and foreign students pursuing in areas such as Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, Childhood Education, Hotel Management, Computing and Computer Systems. The group is also a government-approved training provider as well as a skills development centre in Computers and Food and Beverage programs, soon to be expanded to other important areas as the government is now placing greater emphasis on Technical and Vocational Education to support the continuing growth of the Malaysian economy.
The group has been fortunate to have established close working partnerships with international institutions such as the Federation University, Australia, Birmingham City University, Bulacan State University, Philippines, the ACCA, UK, Universidad Mexico. Students pursuing programs in SEAA can proceed to these partner institutions for higher qualifications, and this is the common path for many of the international students of the group.
Having been in the education industry for 33 years, previously having been the President of a leading private university and Vice Chancellor of the premier Malaysian public university, and currently being a Board member of two reputable private universities i.e. Sunway University and International University of Malaya-Wales, the growth, dynamism, vision and direction of SEAA that I am now witnessing is clearly extremely exciting and holds tremendous promise and confidence for a successful institution. I have never been more proud before to be associated with a team of competent leaders and administrators who have energy, determination, vision and wisdom to take on the challenges of the education landscape of Malaysia. The whole management team has demonstrated to me of what it takes to build a group of institutions to deliver quality training and education that meets the highest quality check and standards.
With every best wishes.
PROF GHAUTH JASMON
BSc(Eng), PhD(Lond), DMSM, PSM, FIET, FIEAust, C.Eng, CPEng, Eisenhower Fellow, Hon D. Tech(Loughborough), Hon D. Science(Wales), Hon. D. Educ(MMU), HH(Soka).