Malaysia is reaping the fruit of the campaigning it started several years ago to persuade Western universities to come and set up campuses in the country.

Last month, Heriot-Watt University of Scotland confirmed it will establish a new $41m purpose-built campus.  Located in in South Johor, it will host up to 4,000 under- and postgraduate students in science, engineering, business, mathematics and design.

Heriot-Watt is the latest in a long list of Anglo-Saxon universities that have established a presence in Malaysia. The University of Nottingham opened its branch in 2000, followed by the Newcastle University and the University of Southampton, whose enrolment for medical engineering will start in October 2012.

Monash and several other Australian universities also have campuses in Malaysia, while prestigious American universities such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University are setting up their own schools.

Malaysia, a country where English is widely spoken, wants to become a hub for higher education of global standard within the Southeast Asian region. There are more than 40,000 students from around 150 countries currently pursuing tertiary education in the country, according to the Malaysian Education Promotion Council.

The country wants to capture the growing Asian demand for internationally accredited degrees and diplomas, while preventing a brain drain by keeping its best students on home soil.

The government has enticed universities by substantially supplementing start-up costs. In return for this, universities are required to set up faculties in areas that will best fit Malaysia’s needs, such as engineering and medicine.