the region should be seen as a laboratory for developing research students workbased and experiential learning and development projects in many different fields for researchintensive universities the principal driver is scientific excellence there is a need to acknowledge the key role that heis can play in local and regional development and provide incentives at the institutional and individual level to mobilise the full potential of heis if malaysia wishes to mobilise its higher education system in support of regional development the higher education policy which embraces teaching research and community service should include an explicit regional dimension there should be an acknowledgement that the diverse regional contexts within which higher education institutions operate and the national policies especially funding regime have differential regional impacts