The Parties, subject to the terms of this Agreement and the laws, rules, regulations and national policies from time to time in force in each country, agree that the primary objective of this Agreement is to facilitate mutual recognition of academic higher education qualifications awarded to students in China and in Malaysia by their respective higher educational awarding institutions. 

ARTICLE II  

DEFINITION

In this Agreement, unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) “Academic higher education qualifications” means a bachelor degree, a Master degree or a PhD degree awarded by any higher education institutions recognized and authorized by the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of Malaysia;

(b) “Accredited Programmes” means programmes that are quality assured by the designated bodies responsible for quality assurance of higher education in China and Malaysia, respectively;

(c) “Comparability of qualifications” refers to the formal acceptance of mutual equivalency of qualifications accredited or deemed to be accredited by the designated bodies in China and Malaysia;

(d)   “Designated Bodies” means any equivalent designated bodies that is recognized and authorized by the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of Malaysia; 

(e)   “Higher Education Awarding Institutions” means a public or private higher education institution recognized and authorized by the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of Malaysia; ‘except the academic higher education qualifications from the third countries already recognized by each country’;