“WHERE are you going to study? Do you plan to come back to Malaysia for work?”
It’s a question many of us have grown used to answering – one that carries both excitement and unease.
Hearing about people around me leaving one by one, I feel a mixture of pride and pensiveness: pride because they have found their place in world-class institutions, yet pensiveness because it reflects a national concern: Malaysia is losing another small piece of its potential.
Since 2010, the outflow of skilled talent has been significant. According to media reports, one in six state-funded scholars – over 2,800 – has opted to remain abroad and repay scholarships rather than fulfil their public sector commitments.
Moreover, more than 15% of the Malaysian diaspora, comprising trained professionals or degree holders, are living in Australia, the United States, Britain and Canada. Many of these individuals belong to the very group Malaysia needs to retain to progress.
Nowadays, almost every young Malaysian dreams of going abroad, either to study or settle down.
While over half of Malaysia’s jobs are in the services sector – often considered the tertiary sector – many of these roles revolve around hospitality, retail or basic administration. Fewer jobs are available in research and development and high‑technology industries.
As reported in Bank Negara Malaysia’s 2025 second-quarter bulletin, around 1% of the national gross domestic product is spent on research and development – a far cry from the country’s target of 2.5% for this year, as outlined in the National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy.
By contrast, countries such as Singapore offer flourishing quaternary career paths, which the new academic syllabuses are preparing students to pursue.
