Flexible learning pathways in Malaysian higher education: balancing human resources development and equity policies

Malaysia’s higher education system is highly centralized, with a set of legislations to govern and monitor public universities and regulate the private higher education sector. The latest discourse, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG4, pitted against existing policies on lifelong learning, presented an opportunity to assess practices at the institutional level. In the national context, there is a need to confirm the extent to which the linkages between national policies on lifelong learning, strategies, instruments, and institutional practices in terms of flexible learning pathways (FLPs) have benefited nontraditional learners, disadvantaged and marginalized groups. Hence, this research aims to investigate how FLPs have benefited particularly the bottom 40 per cent of households (B40 households), disadvantaged and marginalized groups, persons with disabilities, and also women in Malaysia. FLPs in the context of this research refer to pathways that lead to a qualification based on the concept of a recognition of prior learning, mainly involving but not limited to the recognition of work experience. To address the above question, this study investigated the effectiveness and benefits of FLPs from the three following perspectives: a) Pathways for getting into higher education (access regardless of age and other qualifications obtained in the past); b) Pathways for getting through higher education (progression and transferability); c) Pathways for getting out of higher education (completion and transition to labour market or further studies).