Framework for dispute resolution in Malaysia Higher Education: a cross-jurisdictional analysis

Effective Complaint handling is fundamental to the growth of businesses and other institutions including the higher educational institutions (HEIs). Education although argued to be mainly public good, higher education students are perceived as customers in a private enterprise and sometimes mixed goods. This perception reinforces the need to focus on the satisfaction of students on the quality of services they receive in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). An effective complaint handling mechanism is therefore a means to ensure student complaints do not aggravate to conflicts. This aspect has not been adequately addressed in literatures; the laws of Higher Education Institutions in Malaysia have no clear provisions for complaint handling. Doctrinal method and qualitative techniques are employed in this work by online search of existing legislation in Malaysia, United States, United Kingdom, and other countries. Also, utilizing library materials, and internet sources like google scholar, Hein Online and, Jstor and Ebscohost (IIUM Discovery online) to discover literatures on this subject. This method reveals the global best practices in higher education complaint handling. The approach used in this research is exploratory. This approach is necessary to discern the practices across the world on higher education dispute resolution and to suggest a better approach to the current situation in Malaysia. United Kingdom, United States, Spain, and Australia are the models examined because these are foremost countries where University Ombudsmen offices were established and the complaint handling system in universities have developed overtime. Independence, accessibility, transparency, hierarchy of complaints (internal and external independent Ombudsmen) are some of the unique qualities in the complaint handling system in the countries especially in the United Kingdom. This paper therefore proposes a similar system in the Malaysia HEIs