Xiamen University will become the first Chinese university to open an overseas branch when it establishes a campus in Malaysia.
The campus, expected to cost 600 million ringgit (5.8bn baht) to set up, will be built on a 150-acre site at Salak Tinggi in Sepang district of Selangor. The university hopes to welcome its first students in September 2015, according to The Star.
Xiamen University, listed among the top 20 universities in China, was founded by Malaysian rubber magnate Tan Kah Kee in 1921.
“The Malaysian government has given approval in principle to Xiamen University to set up its first overseas campus here,” Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters on Monday.
“The invitation is historic because this is the first time that the Chinese government has allowed one of its universities to set up its campus abroad.”
Mr Najib said 10,000 students were expected to enrol in the first stage, with a third of them from Malaysia, a third Chinese nationals, and the remaining third from abroad, including other Asean-member states.
He confirmed that five faculties would be set up at the campus, to teach electrical bio-engineering and chemical engineering, medicine, ICT, business and economics, and Chinese language and literature.
"The establishment of the branch campus would turn Malaysia into an educational hub in this region," Mr Najib said, adding that English language would be the medium of instruction.