PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia will soon be the first country in the world to develop a national policy on credit recognition for the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platform.
Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said through the initiative, students around the world will be able to pursue their studies online for free and be given credit recognition.
“MOOCs have been implemented around the world for years but no credit is awarded after the students complete their course.
“The ministry plans to award credit through the country’s own MOOCs to encourage flexible learning among students, reduce the duplication of learning and recognise the lessons and experiences gained outside the conventional classroom.
“The Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) has been given the mandate to implement the 'MOOCs plus credit recognition and transfer' initiative, which would enable all MOOCs courses from Malaysia and abroad to be registered into the Malaysia's MOCC platform and be given credit.
"This will allow the students to get the certificate, diploma and bachelor's degree,” he said after delivering his New Year 2016 address for the ministry, here, today.
MQA is currently developing MOOC credit transfer policy and guidelines through a committee which is led by Prof Datuk Dr Mohamad Amin Embi from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Idris said the guidelines were expected to be concluded by June as the ministry need to get feedback from higher education institutes before it is implemented.
MOOCs is a web-based learning and teaching method which is effective for public universities as students can access the subjects anywhere and anytime through the www.openlearning.com/Malaysianmoocs website.