02/06/2025
Free Tertiary Education as a Strategic Equaliser
*This essay was produced to balanced the argument from the following article:
https://www.businesstoday.com.my/2025/05/31/sarawaks-free-tertiary-education-a-scheme-that-sounds-better-than-it-works
1. Free Tertiary Education Supports Equitable Human Capital Formation
Human Capital Theory – Expanded View
While the article cites Gary Becker’s Human Capital Theory to argue that removing price signals distorts rational decision-making, it overlooks an important evolution of this theory. Scholars like Amartya Sen (1999) and Martha Nussbaum (2000) expanded human capital into capability theory, where investment in education is not just a means to private returns but a foundational step toward expanding individuals’ real freedoms and social opportunities.
Moreover, modern iterations of human capital development, such as those supported by the OECD and World Bank, emphasize state-led education investment in low-income and rural regions to correct market failures and regional disparities, particularly where private demand is structurally constrained.
2. Funding and Quality: Policy Design and Successful Models
Empirical Rebuttal: Free Tertiary Education is Viable with Gradual, Targeted Investment
While examples like France and Scotland show challenges of underfunded schemes, other middle-income countries have implemented successful models of free tertiary education without compromising quality.
• Germany’s system, cited negatively in the article, now provides free public university education to all students — including international students — while maintaining high standards. The government addressed initial strain by co-funding universities through the Excellence Strategy and Higher Education Pact, proving that state commitment leads to long-term educational resilience.
• Cuba and Uruguay offer sustainable tuition-free systems with high literacy and tertiary enrolment. Uruguay funds its system through progressive taxation and cross-subsidies, supporting public universities while also offering means-tested support for rural students.
These models show that fiscal strain is a matter of political will and policy design, not an intrinsic flaw of free education.
3. Labour Market Alignment: A Dynamic Policy Issue, Not a Structural Flaw
Labour Market Mismatch is Widespread – But Solvable
The article cites Sri Lanka and Egypt as failures, but these cases stem from centralized academic planning disconnected from market trends, not from the principle of free education.
Countries like Finland and Norway offer free tertiary education while simultaneously implementing labour-market responsive policies, such as:
• Close university-industry collaboration,
• Internships as degree requirements,
• Regional smart specialisation strategies (e.g. EU Cohesion Policy).
Sarawak can emulate these models by tying FTES to vocational universities, polytechnic programs, and sector-specific scholarships — particularly in sectors highlighted by Sarawak’s Post COVID-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030, such as green energy, digital economy, and smart agriculture.
4. Equity and Social Mobility: Countering Bourdieu with Structural Inclusion
Bourdieu’s Cultural Capital Theory is often misread
The article cites Pierre Bourdieu’s theory to claim free education benefits the already-privileged. However, Bourdieu’s critique was not of tuition policy per se, but of how access mechanisms reproduce elite advantage.
Policy implication? Free tuition must be accompanied by:
• Preparatory programs for rural and Indigenous students (e.g. bridging modules, mentorship),
• Living allowances and boarding subsidies,
• Community-based tertiary institutions to reduce rural drop-off.
The Philippines’ Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act (2017) demonstrates this hybrid model, where tuition-free university is paired with support for living costs, particularly for public universities in rural provinces.
5. Cognitive Dissonance & Value Perception: Reframing Education as a Public Good
Leon Festinger’s Cognitive Dissonance Theory is used in the article to argue students devalue what’s free. However, this interpretation neglects empirical studies showing students’ perception of value is shaped more by learning experience, outcomes, and institutional quality than by cost.
• Akerlof and Kranton (2002) argue that student identity and social belonging in institutions of higher learning are critical motivators — not tuition price.
Free tuition, if coupled with high expectations, inclusive pedagogy, and employability pathways, can increase rather than decrease engagement.
In conclusion, the Sarawak FTES should not be abandoned due to global cautionary tales. Instead, it should learn from successful models and design context-specific interventions to:
• Ensure rural and B40 inclusion,
• Link academic programs with emerging economic clusters (e.g., hydrogen economy, digitalisation),
• Invest in quality assurance and faculty development, and
• Expand performance-based funding — not reduce tuition support.
Education is a public good and a critical equalizer in postcolonial, multiethnic societies like Sarawak. A well-funded, equity-driven FTES can transform Sarawak’s human capital base and meet its long-term development ambitions.
GDH
The Sarawak state government's recent approval of the Free Tertiary Education Scheme (FTES), debated in Dewan Undangan Negeri Sarawak and set to commence in 2026, deserves closer examination.
