Australia¡¯s biggest university is planning a twin for its most established branch campus, as international education¡¯s centre of gravity drifts from the anglophone old guard to the gun economies of Asia.

Monash University says its new Malaysian campus, in Kuala Lumpur¡¯s financial district, will open its doors in 2032 and could accommodate more than 24,000 staff and students by 2040.

The 17-storey building will be built in the Tun Razak Exchange, a gleaming precinct ringed by some of the world¡¯s tallest structures. The new facility will operate in tandem with Monash¡¯s existing base, the country¡¯s oldest foreign university branch campus, about 20 kilometres to the south-east.

Monash says it will invest 2.8 billion ringgit (?499 million) in the development, a complex of ¡°overlaid layers¡± built around a ¡°kind of traditional university courtyard¡±. Its landlord will be the precinct¡¯s master developer, TRX City, a wholly owned subsidiary of Malaysia¡¯s finance ministry. ¡°We¡¯re looking at the next 30 to 50 years in this arrangement,¡± said Monash vice-chancellor Sharon Pickering.

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The plan was announced as Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese visited the Malaysian capital for a summit of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean). It coincides with a federal government policy push for more engagement with the region.

It also coincides with Canberra¡¯s efforts to contain international enrolments on home soil, and a global trend for internationally mobile students to favour non-Anglo host countries in Asia and the Middle East.

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Malaysia is particularly attractive?as an affordable, economically thriving country with an improving university sector and a strong English-speaking base, offering geographic proximity and a degree of cultural and religious familiarity to people from crowded neighbours including India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

¡°We expect¡­that demand will increase within Asean, so we want to make sure we¡¯re prepared for that,¡± Pickering said. ¡°But what actually gives us confidence is how successful our campus has been here. It¡¯s got that level of growth to be able to support us going forward. This is kind of three decades in the making.¡±

The existing campus, which had an inaugural cohort of about 400 students when it opened in 1998, surpassed 11,000 students last year. Sandwiched between a major road, an elevated busway, a student residential complex and a rehabilitated mining lake, it has run out of space.

¡°We¡¯re basically bursting at the seams,¡± Pickering said. ¡°We need a new campus, and being in the heart of KL is a great opportunity, particularly for a lot of our industry connections.¡±

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The campus will add several dozen courses to the university¡¯s offerings, in disciplines it considers priority fields for Malaysia and the future global workforce: advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, banking and finance, climate change and sustainability, cyber security, digitisation, healthcare and semiconductors. The new base will also house research centres in energy transition, health, AI and data science.

It could also serve as a launching pad for overseas enrolments in Monash¡¯s Australian campuses. International students who complete at least 40 per cent of their courses elsewhere are not counted towards universities¡¯ quotas for onshore places.

Last year, 800 of Monash¡¯s Malaysia-based students undertook short-term study stints at the university¡¯s home campuses. Another 200 transferred to Australia to see out their degrees.

Pickering stressed that it was not one-way traffic, in a networked institution that she likened to the University of California system. ¡°We want to see really heightened mobility between campuses. This summer, nearly 3,000 Monash University first-years will go out across the Indo-Pacific.¡±

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john.ross@timeshighereducation.com