Leaders hope the further expansion of Australia¡¯s Monash University in Malaysia will help the institution become a ¡°university of choice¡± among local students, as well as catering to the international students increasingly flocking to Asia.?

Speaking to?51³Ô¹Ï?after it was announced her institution intended to open a second Kuala Lumpur site, Adeeba Kamarulzaman, president and pro vice-chancellor of Monash University Malaysia, said expansion plans had been in the works for several years.?

Set to open in 2032, the new campus will eventually hold more than 24,000 staff and students.

While Malaysia has historically been a popular location for foreign universities expanding abroad, recent attention has been more focused on?places like India, which has newly opened to international institutions and is generally perceived to be a less saturated market.?

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But Kamarulzaman said Monash wanted to ¡°strengthen the campuses that we already have¡±, rather than entering a new country.

Monash University Malaysia was first established in 1998 and has since grown to host 11,500 students.?

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In recent years, ¡°the growth has been phenomenal¡±, Kamarulzaman said ¨C something Monash was keen to capitalise on.?

¡°I think the leadership at Monash felt that rather than be everything to everyone and everywhere, why don¡¯t we strengthen and consolidate what we already have?¡±

While both domestic and international student numbers have increased at Monash Malaysia, international numbers have been growing faster, she said. The introduction of new postgraduate courses has also helped the institution to expand.?

With the campus not expected to open for seven years, it appears Monash is betting on Malaysia?continuing to grow?as a study destination within Asia.?

¡°I would also like to see this as a university of choice for Malaysians,¡± said Kamarulzaman, who was the dean of the Faculty of Medicine at University Malaya prior to joining Monash.

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Currently, she said, the university is made up of about 60 per cent domestic students and 40 per cent international.?

¡°I¡¯d like for it to continue to be that way, rather than relying on international students, which can be quite fickle and volatile.

¡°Malaysia spends a lot of money sending students out and there is no need to, right?¡± she continued. ¡°We¡¯re right here.¡±?

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While some other branch campuses in Malaysia have struggled to recruit as many students as originally hoped, Kamarulzaman puts Monash¡¯s success, in part, down to both the campus¡¯ longevity and investments in research.

¡°Right now we have about 500 [Higher Degree by Research] or PhD students,¡± she said. ¡°Engineering, for example, is a big powerhouse in research and I think by being a truly comprehensive university, it¡¯s very attractive to students and parents.¡±

Meanwhile, planning a campus so far ahead brings its own challenges, including knowing how much resource and space to dedicate to specific disciplines.

¡°Technology is changing so rapidly,¡± she said. ¡°Who knows what¡¯s going to happen in seven years¡¯ time in terms of the way we work, right? And what we¡¯re going to teach. So anticipating all that ¨C these rapid technological changes either for teaching or for operations ¨C is going to be quite a challenge.¡±

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helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com