Time to Audit Public Uni R&D?

Dr. Lim Teck Ghee, director of the Center for Policy Initiatives is "at it again", this time with a commentary that poses pertinent questions about how public funds for research and development (R&D) are being utilised by public unis. In his article, Lim asks the following questions:

These questions include:

• What is the selection process used to determine investment in R&D in the country’s universities?
• Is there a fully competitive, transparent and accountable process in determining which universities/individuals receive funding?
• Who are involved in the selection process and how rigorous are the selection procedures at the university and individual researcher level?
• How is the monitoring of the scientific and commercial outcomes and deliverables conducted?
• What has been the return on investment in the R&D allocations to date?
• Are there issues related to leakages, wastage or inefficiencies of the allocations?
• Are reforms necessary in the way public funds are being disbursed for R&D in the universities?

Lim is justified in asking these questions,for despite the billions disbursed to Malaysian public unis over the years, our public unis have yet to make a name for themselves as R&D centres on the global stage.

However, I disagree with his lament about the so-called "policy discrimination" against public unis, as do some other readers. Private universities and colleges are for profit institutions, with their closer ties to the corporate world, shouldn't they be investing more in R&D or at the very least able to secure the corporate sponsorship they need. I don't think it's fair to ask the public to fork out cash to pay for private universities, when only a small segment of the population would only be able to afford to send their children to private universities anyway.

But I digress. I do agree with Lim that we the public should be asking questions about where our money is going and for what it is being utilised. A yearly audit of every public uni's R&D initiatives should be done to get to the bottom of this and thus lay to rest any suspicions about the misuse of public funds.