RESEARCH ACTIVITIES IN MALAYSIA FROM THE PERSPECTIVESOF USM MEDICAL SCHOOL; THE REALITY AND THE STRATEGY

Abstract

Malaysia spends relatively little on research and development (R&D) compared with other technologically-advanced countries. For example,
in the year 2000 only 0.5% of Malaysia’s GDP was spent on R&D compared with 2.3% in Germany, 2.5% in the United States, 2.8% in Japan and 2.9%
in South Korea. Under the Eighth Malaysia Plan, a total of RM 1.507 billion has been allocated to provide funding for various science and technology
programmes through a grant scheme. Most if not all of the money goes to research institutions and these are mainly the public universities (IPTAs) and the Government Research Institutions (GRI). In the year 2000, out of 10,000 members of the local workforce of the country, meaning those in the public
sectors, only 15 were involved in R&D. This compared poorly to countries such as South Korea (60), the United States (74), Singapore (83), Britain (95) and Japan (136) (1).