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A step in the right direction
Posted by TC
on
Sunday, September 6, 2009
10:05 PM
in
Education News-Malaysia
According to a piece in The Star Online today, local public unis are setting stricter KPIs or key performance indicators for their staff, clearly an effort to boost their international rankings:
The use of KPIs in public universities promises to transform Malaysian academia.
KEY performance indicators (KPIs) at universities are not new with different terms being used to describe the measurement of an academic’s performance.
However, given the current higher education landscape, Malaysian universities are setting even more stringent KPI targets for their staff.
KPIs are now being used to not only gauge an academic’s yearly performance, but also his eligibility for promotion.
Read the rest of the article here.
If so-called positive publicity doesn't get the Gods of The Malaysian Education System cracking on that much-longed-for revamp of our education system, here's hoping the following words of wisdom from today's edition of University World News will get them moving:
"...Although Malaysia's regional hub goals are lofty, the reality may make achieving them extremely difficult. The country's higher education system has some formidable hurdles to jump before it can even consider making serious inroads into becoming a hub of any real note.
The biggest of these hurdles are the current state of the education system and Malaysia's geographical location. It is no secret the education system still is, and has been for some time, in a state of disarray.
Discrimination against certain groups of students has meant that universities were not necessarily recruiting the best and brightest who were often forced to travel overseas.
According to Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abd Razak, Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia, the education system is fragmented and is increasingly becoming "polarised and parochial".
Along with the internal disarray are questions as to the quality assurance of courses currently offered at the higher education institutions. The Malaysian Qualifications Authority or MQA works within the boundaries of the Malaysian Qualifications Framework - a government body overseeing the quality of higher education.
An ASEAN Quality Assurance Network, launched in Malaysia in 2008, and co-organised by the MQA, is being used as a means of promoting and sharing information on quality assurance in the region. Critics, however, question how much of the frameworks are merely on paper and how much is really put in to practice.
Another significant issue is the fact that Malaysia is right next door to Singapore and therefore will be competing with Singapore's 'Global Schoolhouse' concept. That programme was launched in 2002 and includes institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, INSEAD, Chicago-Booth Graduate School of Business, and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.
The aim of the Global Schoolhouse is to attract 150,000 foreign students by 2015. While the initiative has not been without its own problems, including the spectacular failure of the University of New South Wales which was expected to attract a significant number of students, it does have other advantages over Malaysia.
Whether or not the Malaysian government would agree, Singapore is currently a bigger draw card for foreign students than Malaysia, particularly among Indian, Chinese and Malaysian students."
Singapore again. Ouch.
Need I say more?
Playing a numbers game
BY SIMRIT KAUR
The use of KPIs in public universities promises to transform Malaysian academia.
KEY performance indicators (KPIs) at universities are not new with different terms being used to describe the measurement of an academic’s performance.
However, given the current higher education landscape, Malaysian universities are setting even more stringent KPI targets for their staff.
KPIs are now being used to not only gauge an academic’s yearly performance, but also his eligibility for promotion.
Read the rest of the article here.
If so-called positive publicity doesn't get the Gods of The Malaysian Education System cracking on that much-longed-for revamp of our education system, here's hoping the following words of wisdom from today's edition of University World News will get them moving:
"...Although Malaysia's regional hub goals are lofty, the reality may make achieving them extremely difficult. The country's higher education system has some formidable hurdles to jump before it can even consider making serious inroads into becoming a hub of any real note.
The biggest of these hurdles are the current state of the education system and Malaysia's geographical location. It is no secret the education system still is, and has been for some time, in a state of disarray.
Discrimination against certain groups of students has meant that universities were not necessarily recruiting the best and brightest who were often forced to travel overseas.
According to Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abd Razak, Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia, the education system is fragmented and is increasingly becoming "polarised and parochial".
Along with the internal disarray are questions as to the quality assurance of courses currently offered at the higher education institutions. The Malaysian Qualifications Authority or MQA works within the boundaries of the Malaysian Qualifications Framework - a government body overseeing the quality of higher education.
An ASEAN Quality Assurance Network, launched in Malaysia in 2008, and co-organised by the MQA, is being used as a means of promoting and sharing information on quality assurance in the region. Critics, however, question how much of the frameworks are merely on paper and how much is really put in to practice.
Another significant issue is the fact that Malaysia is right next door to Singapore and therefore will be competing with Singapore's 'Global Schoolhouse' concept. That programme was launched in 2002 and includes institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, INSEAD, Chicago-Booth Graduate School of Business, and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.
The aim of the Global Schoolhouse is to attract 150,000 foreign students by 2015. While the initiative has not been without its own problems, including the spectacular failure of the University of New South Wales which was expected to attract a significant number of students, it does have other advantages over Malaysia.
Whether or not the Malaysian government would agree, Singapore is currently a bigger draw card for foreign students than Malaysia, particularly among Indian, Chinese and Malaysian students."
Singapore again. Ouch.
Need I say more?
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