Media Centre

OBG talks to Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Dr. Lim Kok Wing, President and Founder of Limkokwing University of Creative Technology

How did Limkokwing evolve into the multinational university it has become today?

LIM: Right from the time we started in 1991, we had planned for this university to become one of the most international and multicultural educational institutions in the world, and we are nearing that goal. Today, we operate six campuses on three continents – Asia, Africa and Europe – and we have 16,000 students from more than 130 countries. We have campuses in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Beijing, Phnom Penh, Gaborone and London and plans to be in 20 more countries within the next 5 years. We have also built up a collegial network of more than 160 universities spread over 70 countries in support of our “Global Classroom” concept, which enables students to learn in different countries en route to completing their degrees. Our website receives more than 2 million visitors from more than 150 countries every month. You can’t get any more international than that.

What are the university’s long-term aims?

LIM: The goal within 10 years is to have over 1million students either on campus or online. At the right time, we will also look to open a campus in New York. We want to use our campuses and network of universities to facilitate a two-way traffic in education between Asia and the rest of the world. We believe the East and the West are two sides of the same coin. If students spend all their time in only one side of the world, they will spend their lives knowing only half the story, seeing only half the picture and missing out on half the opportunities. I say to kids on the first day of orientation that I don’t want them to go home without having made friends from at least 50 countries. No matter where they are from, they should all be equally comfortable sitting at a table with a group of Africans or Jordanians or Europeans. When I speak to them after the graduation, they happily tell me that they can now go anywhere in the world and expect friends that they have met to meet them at the airport. The system clearly works well.

Why have you opened so many campuses in developing countries? Are you planning to open more?

LIM: We designed this university to be an international centre for innovation and capacity building, to train smart-thinking and tech-savvy industry-ready human resource for developing countries. Not many are aware that 85 percent of the world’s population living in developing countries gets by on only 20 percent of the world’s resources because these countries have little capacity to innovate. What we want to do is to build human capital with the empowering skills and knowledge essential to drive the transformation of communities and industries in the less developed countries. That’s why we are in countries like Botswana and Cambodia. It is also why we are looking at setting up a further five or six campuses in Africa.

What are the prospects that Malaysia will become an attractive destination to receive an education?

LIM: Malaysia already is among the most important providers of international education and currently hosts about 50,000 foreign students from more than 150 countries. The aim is to double the number to 100,000 by 2010. Malaysia has the right ingredients to succeed. We are multicultural and one of the world’s most politically stable, safe and peaceful countries that offers first-world residential, medical, transport and communications infrastructure. English is widely used, the cost of living is low and you can receive top-quality education at a lower cost compared to in developed countries.

The government is taking the right steps to make Malaysia a major destination for international education. Malaysian education is actively promoted overseas, and the government has introduced a high-security identification card for foreign students that will ease their stay in the country. By doing what we do, Limkokwing is helping to strengthen the global profile of Malaysian education and playing our part in bringing more foreign students from more countries to Malaysia.