by Anas Alam Faizli
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 29, 2013

JAN 29 — Education was institutionalised to formalise the process of knowledge acquisition and research in man’s quest for understanding. The earliest universities in the history of mankind, namely Al-Azhar, Bologna, Oxford, Palencia, Cambridge and the University of Naples (world’s first public university, 1224), have one thing in common; they were built by notable early world civilisations as institutions of research, discourse, learning, proliferation of knowledge and documentation. This contrasts largely from the role of universities today as institutions of human capital accreditation, qualification and, most unfortunately, business and profits.

Ibnu Khaldun, father of historiography, sociology and economics, in his work “Prolegomenon” (Muqaddimah), argued that the government would only gain strength and sovereignty through its citizens. This strength can only be sustained by wealth, which can only be acquired through human capital development (education), which in turn can only be achieved by justice and inclusiveness for all. Aristotle too proposed: “Education should be one and the same for all.” A system that discriminates, in our case, based on household economic ability, can and will rile an unhealthy imbalance in the quality of the resulting labour force and society. These form the basis of our argument here.

In America, the individual funds his higher education while many European countries have public-funded institutions of higher learning. The latter is the best for Malaysia. Our societal and economic progression (or digression) does not depend on any one factor, but on the interaction of economic, social and political factors over a long period of time. Let’s first look at some realities that we need to contend with to understand why the Malaysian government should fund higher education. Read the rest of this entry »

By Martin Jalleh

— Izham Ismail
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 15, 2013

15 JAN — Semalam, kita digemparkan oleh sebuah video yang disebarkan di YouTube, memaparkan perjalanan sebuah forum yang diadakan di Universiti Utara Malaysia. Forum tersebut bertajuk “Seiringkah Mahasiswa dan Politik” dan perkara yang mengejutkan adalah tindakan panel forum terbabit, Saudari Sharifah Zohrah Jabeen yang memberi respon kepada pertanyaan pelajar UUM, Bawani dengan cara yang agak keterlaluan.

Berikutan daripada video ini, pelbagai reaksi telah diberikan oleh semua pihak terutamanya para mahasiswa. Majoriti mahasiswa merasakan bahawa perkara seperti ini tidak seharusnya berlaku apatah lagi tujuan forum tersebut diadakan adalah untuk menjadi medium interaksi dalam kalangan mahasiswa dan ahli panel berhubung isu-isu politik. Malah, selaku Presiden Suara Wanita 1 Malaysia, sebuah NGO, tindakan tersebut sememangnya tidak boleh diterima dan secara peribadi, saya masih tercari-cari rasional saudari Sharifah bertindak sedemikian.

Saya tidak mahu mengulas dengan lebih terperinci tentang intipati kenyataan Saudari Sharifah kerana saya percaya, semua sahabat mahasiswa sudahpun menonton video ini dan mendengar dengan jelas “hujah” yang diberikan oleh Saudari Sharifah. Perkara yang ingin saya tekankan adalah berkenaan soal integriti Saudari Sharifah yang saya kira tidak menggambarkan profesionalisme yang sepatutnya, sesuai dengan status beliau selaku seorang Presiden.

Saya percaya dan sentiasa akan percaya, semua orang mempunyai hak untuk menyatakan apa yang dirasai. Segala firasat, teori, pandangan mahupun kritikan sewajarnya diberikan ruang yang adil untuk disalur dan dikongsi. Apatah lagi, dengan adanya forum sebegini, soalan-soalan “panas” memang merupakan sesuatu yang pasti dan atas sebab itulah, ahli panel perlu bijak menangani.

Selaku mahasiswa, kami sentiasa mempunyai aspirasi yang tersendiri. Biarpun kami mungkin berbeza ideologi sesama sendiri, bernaung di bawah berlainan panji, waima menjadi ahli fikir neutralisasi, ada perkara yang kami kongsi merentas seluruh universiti. Kami berkongsi bahawa hak mahasiswa itu perlu dibela, suara mahasiswa itu perlu dijaga, malah hati, maruah dan pendirian mahasiswa itu perlu diutama. Atas dasar inilah, pelbagai forum atau debat dilaksanakan di peringkat universiti agar medium ini diangkat sebagai saluran idea mahasiswa sekaligus menjunjung semangat demokrasi.

Namun, sayangnya hal ini seolah-olah tidak difahami oleh Saudari Sharifah. Read the rest of this entry »

At the University of Malaya’s centennial celebrations in June 2005, the then Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak threw the challenge to University of Malaya to raise its 89th position among the world’s top 100 universities in THES-QS (Times Higher Education Supplement-Quacquarelli Symonds) ranking in 2004 to 50 by the year 2020.

Instead of accepting Najib’s challenge with incremental improvement of its THES ranking, the premier university went into a free fall when in 2005 and 2006 it fell to 169th and 192nd ranking respectively, and in the following two years in 2007 and 2008, fell out of the 200 Top Universities ranking altogether.

In 2009, University of Malaya made a comeback to the 200 Top Universities Ranking when it was placed No. 180, but in 2010 it again fell out of the 200 Top Universities list when it dropped to 207th placing.

For the 2011 QS Top 200 Universities Ranking, University of Malaya returned to the Top 200 Universities Ranking, being placed at No. 167.

In the THES-QS World University Rankings 2009, University of Malaya leapfrogged 50 places from No. 230 placing in 2008 to No. 180 in 2009; while in the 2011 QS World University Ranking, University of Malaya leapt 40 places from No. 207 in 2010 to No. 167 in 2011.

The QS World University Rankings 2012 will be released in 20 days’ time. Can University of Malaya make another leapfrog as in 2009 and 2011 to seriously restore her place as one of the world’s top 100 universities by before 2015? Read the rest of this entry »

— Stephen Ng
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 24, 2012

APRIL 24 — It was on November 1, 1997 when the National Higher Education Loan (PTPTN) scheme started giving out loans. At that point in time, private colleges were starting to bloom, and foreign universities such as Monash University and Nottingham University were also invited to set up their campuses in Malaysia.

The PTPTN was created to be a rolling fund to provide loans to students who could not afford tertiary education, because very few banks in those days were willing to provide the loans. Even banks were charging higher interest fees for students who opted for the loans compared to the PTPTN.

Besides, the cost of private education is higher than that offered by the public sector. This is understandable, because they are linked with international universities and were catering to a generation of students who would have otherwise opted to go overseas. There was also no government funding to make available teaching equipment in these private universities.

I remember former Health Minister Dr Chua Soi Lek visiting a medical faculty in a private college. He made such a big fuss, complaining that the facilities for the newly set up medical faculty were not on par with the public universities. In my heart, I asked: “In the first place, how much has the government provided in soft loans to these private colleges?” Dr Chua, of course, never helped to fight for government funding to boost private education sector.

As I see it now, with the exception of certain colleges, the private education sector has in fact met the aspirations of the young people of Malaysia. Because of the PTPTN, many students have been able to pursue their education. Otherwise, they would not have been able to continue their education overseas, or even locally in the public universities due to the quota system.

My question therefore is why is the PTPTN now the subject of ridicule? Read the rest of this entry »

by Praba Ganesan
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 19, 2012

APRIL 19 — When I jumped off the bus at noon to register at UKM (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia) not many noticed the scraggly looking teenager with a mega-large bag. It was so large; it had clothes, a chess set and even a typewriter. It was the early Nineties and Kurt Cobain was alive making music.

Every student had about 20 family members coming to send them off. It was that big a deal, going to a public university. There were no private universities and the private “colleges” were only offering twinning programmes at best.

The old ethos: few go to university and many after secondary education join the employment market.

This changed with the great expansion before the millennium, around the time the PTPTN national loan system came around.

Mahathir’s Malaysia was to be a developed nation in record time, and millions of graduates have to line up and march in unison as people in the capital cheered them on with confetti drowning the uninitiated.

This vision required universities opening almost every month, in every state, in every way and many tuition centres around the Klang Valley turning into university colleges. Major government-linked companies were turning their training centres into universities, and Mahathir Mohamad was still riding horses.

The PTPTN answered the money issue. And now on the table sits the proposal to abolish it.

You don’t have to agree or disagree, but you have to realise that the issue is not straightforward. The overdrive the Barisan Nasional (BN) government is in to respond to is the indicator. Read the rest of this entry »