Yesterday, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Khaled Nordin told Bernama that Malaysian unis are not issuing fake PhDs, and that there are no lecturers with fake PhDs teaching at any local public or private university.

Ok, we get it, we don't have to worry about our kids being taught by lecturers with 'bogus' degrees. I suppose 'bogus' lecturers who fake papers and books (i.e. plagiarise) are more credible examples? Seems to be the case with the lecturers at UPM who got away scot free despite media exposure of their wrong-doing (word on the street is that they were outed by a fellow academic).

Over tea yesterday, a friend remarked rather candidly that the two lecturers would have been strung up if they hadn't belonged to a certain ethnic group. Assuming my friend's allegations are true, given that these lecturers also teach students from their own ethnic group, aren't they setting a poor example to their youth as well? Are all the efforts being taken by the PM and rest of government to liberalise the NEP destined to fail , due to a few (but costly) incidents like these which brand the country negatively?

There's a time and place for everything, particularly dirty laundry. Terence Fernandez of The Sun Daily hung that laundry up to dry for everyone to see in today's "Down To Earth" column. Fernandez clearly has (honest) educators and students' interest at heart, makes me wish there was a place in the newsroom too for me and my fellow educators to share the gruesome details from the trenches we call the public education system. But alas therein lies the irony, our hands are bound and lips sealed by the need to stay employed as educators, so we rely on fearless journalists like Fernandez for silent triumphs, for our voices to be heard.

But still, he is just one of a few good men who are striving to be agents of change in a sea of apathetic citizens. This country needs more than the voices of a handful, it needs action. I end this post with a quote from one of my favourite movies 'V for Vendetta': "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."

To Fernandez and other journalists out there who wield their mighty pen despite the odds, thank you.

More than half of teenagers from UK schools are 'downloading' their schoolwork from the Internet, says a recent article on the impact of mobile phones and the Internet on education by The Times Online. I wonder what numbers in Malaysia are like?

Even with all the wrongs in the Malaysian education system, we have done some things right, keeping our literacy rates high  for one (88.7% according to the UNDP 2007/2008 report). Thailand's The Nation has an excellent opinion piece on International Literacy Day. I've included the full article here for easy reading:

Celebrating International Literacy Day: Need for new commitments in the Asia-Pacific region

Published on September 8, 2009

Literacy is a basic human right, guaranteed under the right to education enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and it will be celebrated this year across the world today.

Literacy strengthens the capabilities of individuals, families and communities to develop and to achieve. A lack of literacy is strongly correlated with poverty, and those who can use literacy skills to defend their legal rights have a marked advantage over those who cannot.

Literacy thus paves the way for social and gender equity as well as broader societal development. Women who have benefited from literacy programmes have noted the sense of empowerment, economic independence, and social emancipation they have gained through these programmes. Literate mothers are more likely to send their children to school. Promoting literacy among adults thus supports the creation of literate societies and increases the extent to which people play an active role in their personal development and the development of their communities.

According to the Education for All Global Monitoring Report (GMR) 2009, there are 776 million illiterate adults in the world and two-thirds are women. Similarly, there are 75 million school-aged children who are out-of-school globally.

The Asia-Pacific region has relatively high rates of illiteracy overall, accounting for 70 per cent of the world's population, but there are key differences among the various sub-regions, as well as at the national and local levels.

Illiteracy rates are highest in the countries with the greatest poverty. Moreover, in countries with comparatively low literacy rates, rural-urban disparities are also large. South Asia and West Asia also face significant gender imbalances in literacy.

East Asia has a relatively high adult literacy rate (93 per cent), up from 82 per cent in the 1985-1994 to 2000-2006 periods. The dramatic increase in literacy in East Asia between these decades is largely attributable to China, where efforts to increase primary school participation and targeted adult literacy programmes enabled 110 million people to gain literacy.

Despite these achievements, 112 million adults in the region (71 per cent of whom are women) still lack basic literacy and numeracy skills. Countries such as Laos and Cambodia, for example, still face significant challenges in terms of overall literacy. Central Asia has the highest adult literacy rate (99 per cent) in the whole region.

In the Pacific region, nearly 1.7 million adults still lack basic literacy skills, with the majority in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. Moreover, significant gender disparities were noted in Papua New Guinea, where only 80 adult women are literate for every 100 adult men.

In South, and West Asia, 64 per cent of the adult population can read and write with understanding. In Bangladesh and Pakistan, levels are around 50 per cent. The regional literacy rate has increased substantially since 1990, when it stood at 47 per cent, but the rates for this region are still among the lowest in the world.

There are also substantial differences between rural and urban literacy rates in the region. In Pakistan, for example, the rural literacy rate is 44 per cent, compared with 72 per cent for urban areas. Literacy rates are particularly low in remote rural regions, including areas inhabited by ethnic minority populations.

To overcome the situation, countries in the region have developed programmes and activities in literacy and continuing education. Basic literacy, post literacy and some forms of continuing education, including income-generating activities have been developed.

Community Learning Centres (CLC) as multi-purpose learning centres have been established and promoted in most countries. The CLCs are able to generate community participation and link literacy and continuing education programmes directly to people's lifestyles, which helps to motivate learners and community people to join in learning activities.

Over the past fifty years, there has been an evolution in the understanding of literacy from a conventional view (skill acquisition), to a functional view, to a broader vision of literacy that encompasses human rights, democracy, and social development. Along with this expanded vision has come an awareness that we can no longer speak of "literates" and "illiterates", but must view literacy as a continuum and speak of "levels of literacy".

In viewing the changing context of globalisation, new skills and knowledge should be provided to citizens to make them better equipped to meet global needs, and contribute to national development and promote peace and cultural harmonisation.

Thailand is one of the countries with satisfactory success in reducing illiteracy. Between 2000 and 2005, the literacy rate increased for all regions of the country. The overall rate of literacy (15 years and over) increased from 92.6 per cent in 2000 to 93.5 per cent in 2005. This was possible because of strong dedication and strong policies and programmes at the centre, as well as at the grassroots level.

This year, International Literacy Day puts the spotlight on the empowering role of literacy and its importance for participation, citizenship and development. "Literacy and Empowerment" is also the theme for the 2009-2010 biennium of the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012).

Most countries celebrating this year's International Literacy Day have made a commitment to repeat their commitments to eradicating illiteracy. Reinforcing transparent governance and efficient management of capacity building is one of the most prominent actions to support literacy efforts.

Assessment, monitoring, and evaluation need further development to inform planning and account for results. Given the complex and diverse links of literacy with other sectors, governments should facilitate inter-ministerial collaboration, as well as collaboration with, and within civil society to ensure complementary - not duplicative - actions.

The mid-decade progress report on UNLD in Asia and the Pacific region pointed out that there is still a lack of political will in the eradication of illiteracy in many countries, so problems of poverty, gender inequality and discrimination persist.

Education sector policies should systematically include the needs of adult and youth literacy based on the right to literacy both as a basic learning tool and as a means of personal development. The report further emphasised the need to develop the capacity of government agencies, civil society and community-based learning centres to reach groups with special needs, and in less accessible areas to literacy programmes.

In response to all these needs in literacy, Unesco Bangkok has been promoting education for all; United Nations Literacy Decades (UNLD) (2003-2012) and Decades for Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) (2005-2014) in Asia and the Pacific region. Literacy is one of the primary focuses of Unesco and also the heart of the Education for ALL (EFA) goals and UNLD and DESD. It is also supporting regional and country efforts within the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) under the framework of EFA and UNLD. (LIFE aims to increase literacy learning opportunities in 35 countries with a literacy rate of less than 50 percent, or more than 10 million adult illiterates).

Gwang-Jo Kim is director of the Regional Bureau for Education in Asia and the Pacific.

....is the message Andres Oppenheimer of The Miami Herald  seems to be sending to leaders of Asian countries in his piece Asia Treading Near Overconfidence .

I understand his skepticism surrounding the rise of the Asian superpowers (China and India) and can empathise with where he is coming from.  I happen to agree with him that Asia's rosy economic outlook is questionable what with the current global landscape.

I also find it darkly ironic that there's no mention of the States' overconfidence, which resulted in its economy's near-demise. (And it's a democracy, to boot). He's also conveniently left out that Asians Americans are one of the most affluent ethnic groups in America. Additionally, he doesn't offer constructive advice on how Asia can thwart economic overheating on its way up, which would have made the article more balanced.  Instead I detect an almost palpable fear between the lines, fear that Asian economies will eclipse the West during the latter's meandering economic recovery.

That's my two cents worth on the piece. I'm not saying that Asian countries should crow over their Western counterparts, but wouldn't it be nice if the Americans didn't tell us what to do for once? Wouldn't it be nice to be on a level playing field with the 'big boys' for once?

P.S.:  Note Oppenheimer's views on Asian attitudes toward education, it made me do a double take!

 

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:

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?

An excellent summary of current attitudes towards sex and sex education in Malaysia in The Nut Graph http://thenutgraph.com/article-4757.html , found the stats from the NST survey a bit of a shocker though.

Meanwhile, The Star Online interviewed some of the country's top brains for a news feature on changing our education system, here's an excerpt:

"According to the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research executive director Datuk Dr Mohammed Ariff Abdul Kareem, human capital is a scarce commodity in the country.

“We have acute shortage of professionals because our education system is not and has not been producing skills and talents that fit into the mainstream of modern business,” he says.

Indeed, the human-capital base is nurtured from the early ages through all levels in the education system. But one of the major concerns plaguing the Malaysian education system is that it has not changed very much from one that is based on rote-learning to one that promotes critical thinking." Read the rest here.

So the education system needs to move away from rote-learning and exam myopia....hello,  has anyone out there (you know who you are) been LISTENING to what EDUCATORS have been saying for the last TWENTY YEARS? Make no mistake, I'm a big fan of economists (especially those who tell it as it is), but it's not exactly NEWS is it?

How about MAKING the changes and giving the media something to really chew on for once?

I rest my case.

An interesting, though obvious plug for foreign unis from The Times Online on "transnational education" in Malaysia:

 

Quintessentially Britain, truly Asia

Malaysia: full of Western promise

27 August 2009

By John Gill

UK institutions seeking to consolidate their position overseas are discovering Malaysia's potential. John Gill reports from Kuala Lumpur

There is a tradition at the University of Nottingham known as the "Campus 14", in which hard-drinking freshers attempt to down a pint in all 14 bars on site. In stark contrast, at the University of Nottingham in Malaysia (UNIM), the sale of alcohol - and cigarettes and condoms - is forbidden.

There are, of course, many other differences between the two: nestled as it is in the middle of a vast palm plantation, no one could confuse UNIM's campus near Kuala Lumpur with its parent in the Midlands. Yet geographical and cultural disparities aside, the degree that students earn is identical, whether they are based in the Tropics or the UK.

UNIM may be the most ambitious example of a British university's involvement in Malaysia, but the country has a diverse range of partnerships with UK institutions - links that are at the core of its aspirations to become an international "hub" for higher education.

Its strategy is founded on so-called "transnational education" - the delivery of Western degrees through partnerships with Malaysian institutions.

Read the rest of the article here.

It reads uncannily like an article I read in The Star Online a couple of days ago about Malaysia being ranked the world's 11th most preferred study destination:

"The conclusion was based on the fact that 69,154 international students from more than 150 countries have chosen Malaysia as the country they wanted to study in.

With the majority of students coming from Indonesia, China and the Middle East, the new figure was a 26.5% increase from the old count of 50,788, which was recorded on March 31 last year. The ranking was obtained from the Institute of International Education.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the rise indicated that the ministry’s target to have 80,000 international students by 2010 was achievable.

“We’re happy to have 2% of the world’s international student population,” he told reporters yesterday after announcing the National Higher Education Strategic Plan’s progress report."

According to the writer, the Ministry of Higher Education has already given the green light to the Newcastle University of Medicine for a branch campus at Iskandar Malaysia’s Educity in Nusajaya, Johor.

"It is understood that local conglomerates are negotiating with the Korean Maritime Univer-sity, Southampton University, Royal Holloway University, King’s College London, the University of Birmingham and Murdoch University to set up branch campuses in Malaysia."

Good news for students wanting to save money on living costs abroad and that international students are reportedly flocking to our shores, but perhaps the Ministry would want to carry out a study on international students in public institutions of higher versus those in private universities/colleges. I'm no psychic, but I'm willing to bet that the numbers are higher in the private colleges, namely because the degrees awarded are by foreign universities.

So where does that leave Malaysia as an international education hub? Are we fated to be  a "cheaper" destination  to those wishing to graduate with a foreign degree, functioning only as a low-cost base lining the pockets of foreign university owners? What will happen (and it will someday) when Thailand, Vietnam or Indonesia dangles more attractive incentives to foreign universities?

Where will it leave us, then? More importantly, where that does leave state-funded universities? Perhaps the fictional study I mentioned earlier should poll international students on their expectations towards public and private universities. Perhaps this will lead to a revamp of state-funded higher education, creating opportunity for public universities to regain their lost glory and finally make their mark on the world stage.

Wouldn't it after all, be a greater pride for our nation to be an international destination on the strength of its own education system, rather than relying on the 'charity' of foreign university owners?

 

I heard from a friend who teaches at UPM just the other day that the campus had to be closed for a week last month due to a minor H1N1 outbreak. I was relieved at first to hear that the campus' powers-that-be took the disease seriously, but the relief turned to horror in about 5 seconds when my friend told me that students were sent home instead of being quarantined and that lecturers were not part of the quarantine. According to my friend, this has happened at a few other universities as well: lecturers were still made to work during a H1N1 outbreak, while students were sent home or quarantined on campus.

Changing sick leave policies and allowing staff to work from home should not be just limited to corporations in the private sector, local universities and colleges need to take the cue from afflicted schools who have in the past vacated their premises of both students and teachers for the well-being of both. In local unis for instance, with well over 5000 students and a limited number of academic staff, a sloppy attitude towards disease prevention and control could well disrupt students' classes if several lecturers were to get infected. Sure, time is money, but what is a one week campus closure compared to lecturers and/or students missing several weeks of class time? Which is more damaging to the college/unis reputation?

Having said that, unis and colleges can only do so much, students and academic staff should take precautions to ward off H1n1 and not depend on the powers-that-be. Malaysians are not alone in this respect, it seems. Valerie Strauss of The Washington Post blog The  Answer Sheet tells people to Stop Sending Sick Kids To School

 

 

 

 

Forget about world rankings, Malaysian universities barely made a dent in QS.Com's first Asian-wide university rankings, published in June.  Not surprisingly, Singapore's NUS and NTU made the top 30 list (the universities have also ranked highly on QS' world university rankings last year). Thailand's Chulanglongkorn University and Mahidol University made the top 30 list too, but Malaysian unis---make that ONE Malaysian uni---only showed up on the top 40 list (Universiti Malaya at a decent #39).

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia placed #51, a notch below Universiti of Indonesia, while Universiti Sains Malaysia managed a tolerable #69. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Universiti Putra Malaysia were in the bottom 20 of the rankings---at #82 and #90 respectively.

 See the full rankings at: http://www.topuniversities.com/worlduniversityrankings/asianuniversityrankings/asian_university_rankings_top_200_universities/

Interesting that the country's top research universities (UPM and USM) were unable to make even the top 50 list, which begs the question: should public unis that don't make the cut in regional (and global) rankings be penalised by the government, i.e. getting them to buck up by slashing annual budgets, trim the fat, etc?

Maybe as Gloria Steinem once said, "The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn". If all the public unis practiced this, we may have a real shot at the world rankings, say, within the next decade?