Heriot-Watt opens Malaysian campus

A new purpose-built campus has been opened in Putrajaya, the administrative centre of Malaysia, by Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University.

Up to 4,000 students on postgraduate and undergraduate programmes will attend the new £35m campus, which was opened by the British High Commissioner to Malaysia Vicki Treadell and Malaysian Education Minister Dato' Seri Idris Jusoh.

Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University Professor Steve Chapman said, "Today is a key event for the University and an occasion to promote the quality and value of British higher education overseas. We want to celebrate Heriot-Watt’s position as a leading, world class STEM institution and to showcase a superb location, outstanding staff and students and excellent academic facilities.”

Degrees taught will include key growth areas for the Malaysian economy, focusing on science, engineering, business, mathematics and design.

Heriot-Watt has had a campus in Dubai since 2011.Trade unions have objected because staff who worked there had less favourable pay and working conditions.

Last June Mary Senior, Scotland Official for the University and Colleges Union told Holyrood “Staff in campuses outside the UK must also be treated fairly and on comparable terms and conditions with their colleagues in Scotland,” as Glasgow Caledonian University opened its New York Campus.

Glasgow Caledonian also has a nursing college in Bangladesh. Other Scottish Universities also have opened overseas campuses in recent years, including Edinburgh Napier, which has a biofuel research centre in Hong Kong.