THE RELEVANCY OF OUTDOOR EDUCATION SUBJECT IN MALAYSIAN UNIVERSITIES

Recently, the implementation of outdoor education subject in Malaysian universities are under attacks. These attacks emerged as a result of several issues in the current practices of outdoor education in Malaysian universities such as financial, accidents, exam based focus and the suitability of outdoor experiential learning in the dominance indoor learning approach. As a result, these issues had affected the implementation of outdoor education subject in several Malaysian universities. Therefore, it is the purpose of this paper to highlight current practices and issues of outdoor education subject in Malaysian universities. This paper also attempts to justify the positive contribution of outdoor education towards students’ personal and social development compared to the critics. Several facts and recent research in outdoor education are highlighted in order to support the discussion.