PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

Students in higher education institutions, particularly in public and private universities in Malaysia share certain common epistemological beliefs among them, while other aspects of the beliefs are significantly different. The characteristics of students based on epistemological beliefs enlighten those who are responsible in academic and soft skill development of higher education on how to appreciate and utilize the talents and strength in each student. Their characteristics could be identified by observing the way they put on their perspective on the list of given scenarios in a survey questionnaire used in this research. These characteristics are identified from their responses to various constructs of epistemological beliefs and learning approaches used in this research. This move is in line with the intention of educationists and policy makers of higher education in Malaysia to dig up the potential among the country's future leaders as much as possible. This is one of the efforts taken by the educationists and policy makers of higher education in Malaysia to uncover the potential of students at the higher education level for future leaders of the country, beginning with their beliefs in knowledge and their learning approaches. Generally, these students are very prospective human capital in this country who need be groomed continuously. Hence, as one of the sources of prospective human capital in this country which needs continuous grooming, there is a need to examine their learning approaches and their concepts of knowledge as conducted in this study. In answering the research questions, the following significant differences were established between the variables used in this study: significant relationship between students' epistemological beliefs and their surface learning approaches; significant difference between male and female students' epistemological beliefs and learning approaches; significant difference in terms of epistemological belief and learning approaches between students from physical and social sciences; a significant difference in term of epistemological belief based on the years of study amongst the students; a significant difference in term of learning approaches used amongst students of different ethnic groups. Hence, a survey questionnaire was administered to a total of 1,422 Malaysian students from higher education institutions in Malaysia, both private and public universities, as respondents. Based on the findings of the study, it can be concluded that there is a relationship between the epistemological beliefs and learning approaches among Malaysian university students based on their gender, field of studies, years of study, ethnic background, as well as the types of institutions they are studying in.