INTRODUCTION:
Globally, there is increasing demand for higher education, especially from the youth population of developing countries, as it is viewed as an important pathway for greater social mobility (Devesh, 2008). According to the World Trade Organization (WTO 2010), private returns from higher education are high for both developed and developing countries. In developing countries, the wage differential between a secondary school leaver and a university graduate is estimated to be as high as 200%. Besides the wage premium, rapidly changing technology in a globalized world is also demanding new and changing competencies that require life-long learning skills, for which mature students often have to go back to college for re-training and re-skilling.

Malaysia is one of the most subsidized nations in the world. Its total subsidy of RM74 billion in 2009 is equivalent to RM12,900 per household or 4.6 per cent of GDP even higher than Indonesia (2.7 per cent) & Philippines (0.2 per cent). Out of the numbers, RM 30.8 billion goes to Primary, secondary, higher education and scholarships.

Higher education in Malaysia is divided into 2 sectors; public and non-public sector, there are about 20 universities and 6 university colleges (the term “university college” is used to for those tertiary level education institutions that are able to confer their own degrees but have not achieved university status). In the non-public sector there are 559 institutions of varying types including: universities and university colleges and foreign university branch campuses. The term “non-public” refers to the broad category of institutions not funded by the state. A division between private and for-profit institutions exists within this category, but is not entirely clear. Outside of these categories are polytechnics (24) and community colleges (37), which will not be dealt