UM Restructuring To Start Next Year To Improve Ranking. Is The Political Will There?
Universiti Malaya will introduce changes in its enrolment policy in January next year to improve its ranking under the The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES).
The restructuring included lowering its first degree intake from 20,000 to 15,000 students; increasing its Masters and Doctorate intake from 9,000 to 15,000, said its Student Affairs and Alumni Deputy Vice-Chancellor Datuk Dr Razali Agus.
"We will also put in efforts to improve the mastering of other languages, particularly English, among the students," he said.
Recently, THES ranked the university at 192nd placing in its world universities ranking. It was at 169th placing a year ago. Dr Razali said the large intake of first degree students, the lower intake for Masters and PhDs, and poor proficiency in English were the main factors in the lower ranking.
In addition, the hiring of the university's graduates by employers and multinational corporations (MNCs) was a crucial factor in the ranking. He said to date, only 38 percent of the students in the university were scoring a CGPA above 3.0. As such, he hoped the students in the university would be ready to face the challenge and help each other to improve their grade to a level demanded by employers and MNCs.
**** Firstly this statement was made by only the Deputy VC who in the overall scheme of things is a nobody. Even the VC would not have the powers required to make the real decisions. That authority lies with the Higher Education Minister and ultimately the Prime Minister. That is the reality in Malaysia for the past 50 years as far as education is concerned. Autonomy and anything remotely resembling it is frowned upon by the authorities and is considered a bad word, like '45% bumi equity.'
The truth is you can't have it both ways. You cannot have fake meritocracy, backdoor admissions to critical courses and undergraduates with an appalling knowledge of English and then expect by some miracle to be placed high in world rankings. The politicians know this very well and that is why except for some lip-service regarding improving our rankings in the future, they are basically not bothered with quality. The quality or lack of it in no way affects our political bigwigs as their children, at least those who have performed well, go to good foreign universities. (I'll readily admit that Oxford has taken quite a beating lately though!)
Take the example of English. While the rational academic knows the indispensableness of the language, the government still dances to the tune of the outdated decades-old nationalist sentiments of moribund ignoramuses.
The ever contentious issue of unfair admissions to our varsities should also be addressed if there is to be a significant improvement in the rankings, and a solution must be found to the STPM-Matrikulasi anomaly.
Rewarding merit and excellence in the various Uni faculties is the way to go. This is not a place for racial, religious or nationalist chauvinism and political power play. The government must give the best deal for lecturers which it promised recently.
Most importantly the authorities must demonstrate that they have the political will to address longstanding grouses and issues, instead of backtracking at the last minute due to narrow political calculations and jaundiced, misplaced 'nationalist' perceptions and views.
The restructuring included lowering its first degree intake from 20,000 to 15,000 students; increasing its Masters and Doctorate intake from 9,000 to 15,000, said its Student Affairs and Alumni Deputy Vice-Chancellor Datuk Dr Razali Agus.
"We will also put in efforts to improve the mastering of other languages, particularly English, among the students," he said.
Recently, THES ranked the university at 192nd placing in its world universities ranking. It was at 169th placing a year ago. Dr Razali said the large intake of first degree students, the lower intake for Masters and PhDs, and poor proficiency in English were the main factors in the lower ranking.
In addition, the hiring of the university's graduates by employers and multinational corporations (MNCs) was a crucial factor in the ranking. He said to date, only 38 percent of the students in the university were scoring a CGPA above 3.0. As such, he hoped the students in the university would be ready to face the challenge and help each other to improve their grade to a level demanded by employers and MNCs.
**** Firstly this statement was made by only the Deputy VC who in the overall scheme of things is a nobody. Even the VC would not have the powers required to make the real decisions. That authority lies with the Higher Education Minister and ultimately the Prime Minister. That is the reality in Malaysia for the past 50 years as far as education is concerned. Autonomy and anything remotely resembling it is frowned upon by the authorities and is considered a bad word, like '45% bumi equity.'
The truth is you can't have it both ways. You cannot have fake meritocracy, backdoor admissions to critical courses and undergraduates with an appalling knowledge of English and then expect by some miracle to be placed high in world rankings. The politicians know this very well and that is why except for some lip-service regarding improving our rankings in the future, they are basically not bothered with quality. The quality or lack of it in no way affects our political bigwigs as their children, at least those who have performed well, go to good foreign universities. (I'll readily admit that Oxford has taken quite a beating lately though!)
Take the example of English. While the rational academic knows the indispensableness of the language, the government still dances to the tune of the outdated decades-old nationalist sentiments of moribund ignoramuses.
The ever contentious issue of unfair admissions to our varsities should also be addressed if there is to be a significant improvement in the rankings, and a solution must be found to the STPM-Matrikulasi anomaly.
Rewarding merit and excellence in the various Uni faculties is the way to go. This is not a place for racial, religious or nationalist chauvinism and political power play. The government must give the best deal for lecturers which it promised recently.
Most importantly the authorities must demonstrate that they have the political will to address longstanding grouses and issues, instead of backtracking at the last minute due to narrow political calculations and jaundiced, misplaced 'nationalist' perceptions and views.
posted by The Malaysian. at 10/15/2006 11:28:00 AM
1 Comments:
They are running Masters and PhD yet the majority of the student body is not proficient in English?
What kind of a racket are they running, and what kind of sloven graduates are they churning out?
Anybody here have any info on what the CV's of our university faculty look like? For example, what types of publications do they generate, and to what journals are they targeted to?
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