Monday was spent travelling across several time zones. We left the hotel in Calcutta at 8.30 in the morning and arrived at the hotel in Kuala Lumpur at 9.30 at night.  In between we had spent many hours on planes and a little bit of time at flood-ringed Bangkok Airport.

I agreed to this detour to be able to announce a remarkable development. Heriot-Watt University has won the competitive bid to establish a University in the new city of Putrajaya – the administrative capital of Malaysia which is situated about 25 kms from Kuala Lumpur. It is an amazing place – a city that has grown from nothing in 15 years, complete with a massive lake, spanned by several enormous bridges (which were built before the lake was filled!)

The land and building (a futuristic design which will be completed by 2014) is being leased from Putrajaya Holdings Ltd., the government owned company which has developed the site – showing to what use even a small part of a nation’s oil wealth can be put.

Heriot-Watt’s plans are ambitious – a full range of courses from psychology to engineering will be offered on a facility designed to cater eventually for more than 6,000 students. The fact that Heriot-Watt has been chosen is further evidence of the high global standing of Scotland’s educational excellence and it is testament to the success and reputation of the university’s Dubai campus (opened by the First Minister two weeks ago) and the work they do with over 30 international partners.

Malaysia already has the largest number of overseas Heriot-Watt alumni and has a reputation for excelling in the areas the Malaysian economy needs such as petroleum engineering, business administration and construction.

The campus will also be easily accessible for students from a range of other countries in the region, who wish to study for a Scottish degree closer to home. I hope it might also assist outward mobility, encouraging Scottish students to study for part of their Heriot-Watt degree here or in Dubai.The lease signing took place at a centre overlooking the site for the new campus with a wonderful outlook. It will be a great place to study.

Before I went to Putrajaya I addressed the opening of a conference about trans national  education, organised by the the Australian High Commission and the British Council.  I spoke alongside the Malaysian Deputy Minister for Higher Education II Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah. The Minister and I discovered a shared past as writers of books. The Minister is also an active user of different social media, but in his speech he drew a key distinction; he said our generation use it – the new generation live it. And he pointed to how social media were already part of the transnational education movement. The Australian and British High Commissioners were  present and the conference attendees came from a variety of Asian countries.

After the signing I met with the Minister for Youth and Sport to discuss the University of Stirling’s work helping the Malaysian Government develop a comprehensive sports policy and his ministry’s engagement with Event Scotland. The meeting – in a modern block  in Putrajaya  - took place to the accompaniment of loud thunder, bright lightning  and heavy rain. It is the monsoon season here.

Now I am going out to a meeting with the School Principals’ Association from Singapore who want to work with Scotland on teacher training. And then I will don my kilt for the last time on this visit in order to host a reception to mark the establishment of the new Heriot-Watt University and to further the work of Scottish Development International as it builds education links and secures business for Scotland.

Michael Russell MSP,
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning


India Education Visit 2011
Daily updates on the ScotIndia page as well as via the @EngageForEd twitter (hashtag #ScotIndia11).
More on the Heriot-Watt campus, including artist’s impressions of the future development.

Background: India Visit 2011 – Strengthening Scottish Links.