Malaysia has been reshaping its higher education policies since before the1970s. This paper traces the development of higher education policies that have been developed in response to changing economic circumstances and the impact of these policies on higher education in Malaysia over the last fifty years. In particular, we focus on the contribution of globalisation to the higher education sector in Malaysia. We argue that Malaysia’s higher education system has moved through four distinct phases that can be understood as strategic efforts to respond to global economic trends and globalisation.

Keywords: economic globalisation, Malaysian higher education system