Hopkins's Center for Talented Youth (CTY) recently signed a contract with the Malaysian government agreeing to help establish a school for gifted children at the National University of Malaysia.
The school is slated to open in 2011, and the program will assess gifted students as early as December. The program in Malaysia will be called Permata Pintar, which means "gifted gems."
Borrowing heavily from the CTY curriculum, the new program will host two sessions of 300 Malaysian students at the University next December, according to Simeon Brodsky, director of International Relations for CTY.
"[The December program] will lead into, in the school year of 2011, a residential, year-round school for some of Malaysia's brightest students, the idea being that this will become a model school from which they can take some of the best practices and move those back into the general school system," Brodsky said.
The wife of the Malaysian prime minister, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, was the one who approached Hopkins for help from CTY, along with other Malaysian university officials.
"[Mansor] came to visit in the fall and wanted to know if we were willing to work with their country to establish a gifted education program over time," Executive Director of CTY Lea Ybarra said.
Mansor is now one of the patrons of the project.
Ybarra recently attended the Malaysian International Early Childhood Education conference, where many presentations promoted the education of gifted children. She found that the matter of gifted education was rapidly becoming a focal point in Malaysian education.
This is not the first time Hopkins CTY has reached out to establish gifted education programs in other countries. CTY has also helped set up similar programs in other countries, such as Ireland, Spain, Bermuda and Thailand, but none have been as large in their scope as the Malaysia program, according to Ybarra.
In addition to starting the program in Malaysia, CTY is also considering starting a program in South Korea, Australia and Hong Kong.
Mike Brooks, a Hopkins junior and residential advisor for an international CTY summer program, was surprised to learn about the partnership between CTY and the National University of Malaysia.
"CTY is an American-based program and expands so you get the academic enrichment as well as the cultural enrichment, but these are Malaysian students. It sounds kind of weird to me," he said.
Brooks said that he was not aware of parties from other countries asking for CTY's consultation services, and though he said he would look forward to working with Malaysian students as he would with students of any other country visiting America, he was still taken aback by the news.
"[CTY is] not here to be a multi-national institution, they're here to help kids based in America. It seems a little bit out of character."
Although many countries and representatives come to CTY requesting their involvement in establishing gifted education programs, CTY adheres to certain criteria for choosing which requesting parties it will aid.
According to Ybarra, the program first evaluates the country's readiness to develop a gifted program before it implements one.
Afterwards it begins training officials who will run the program in that country. The Malaysian CTY staff and instructors will be trained at Hopkins.
"We will be writing the curriculum for the Malaysians and we'll also be bringing over eight teachers and administrators from their program to Hopkins for the first part of the summer, where we'll give them a crash course in issues in gifted education," Brodsky said.
In addition, Hopkins CTY does not want to stop development just at the establishment of the school for gifted children, and will consider exchange programs for students and families. The program plans to set up academic programs primarily geared towards American families who would like to send their children abroad to study at the Malaysian site.
In general, Brodsky said, CTY would like to establish a stronger relationship between the Hopkins and Malaysian summer programs. As of now, however, the relationship is more of a financial one.
Hopkins CTY is acting as a consultant to the Malaysian university, and the Malaysian university has been paying a fee for their training services.
However, Hopkins hopes that in the future, they will not have to charge fees, especially if a developing nation expresses interest in establishing a CTY program.
According to the CTY staff, the decline of the world economy has not had a significant effect on the plans to establish a Malaysian program, mainly because Malaysia has not experienced too much of an economic slump.
"We have been really fortunate," Ybarra stated. "Our student enrollment has been steady; countries are still interested in having us consult with them. In the midst of the economic crisis they understand these bright students are the treasure of their country. It's still a top priority."
However, Brodsky said, "If we had been doing this kind of project a few years ago, funding would be even stronger."
Still, Hopkins CTY is enthusiastic about the project, and Ybarra stressed the significance of such international partnerships.
"International collaboration is essential. In today's economy, what happens in one country impacts another," Ybarra said. "We want to connect children all over the world . . . We hope that in times of conflict they'll resort to discussion and dialogue rather armed conflict."
According to Brodsky, the contract will last for a year, though CTY is looking to extend that period for continued involvement with the Malaysian program.
