HARD WORK PAYS DIVIDEND FOR UM
UNIVERSITI Malaya (UM), once a top university in Asia and recognised as a premier educational institution in this part of the world, has successfully made it to the top 200 universities in the Times Higher Education magazine – QS World University Ranking 2009.
Moving from 230 last year to 180 means that hard work was the order of the day and all those who were associated with instituting those needful changes deserve commendation for their unwavering input in wanting to bring back UM’s glorious past when it was once ranked 89 in 2004.
While there is reason for celebration, I hope UM would continue to strive to be among the top 100 universities in the world. UM’s best 2004 achievement was no flash in the pan and should serve as a motivation to bring it to another level of excellence.
This calls for undivided attention, commitment and selfless devotion among its staff, administrators, academics, and the senate, among others, who must collectively ensure no stone is unturned to propel UM further in terms of excellence, eminence, and distinction in providing quality education at both graduate and post-graduate level.
I am glad UM has placed great importance in wanting quality research and development done in its premises and that more facilities are being built or provided for these purposes.
On another note, I call upon UM to set the pace, momentum, and velocity for education quality and excellence as its distinguished and illustrious past indicate it has the means and capacities to propel itself to greater heights.
Many of our past and present leaders are alumni of the university and UM can stand tall that it has contributed significantly by providing leaders to serve the nation unreservedly.
Malaysia is blessed with many natural resources, and technology and other sciences, which are cornerstones of future growth and prosperity that are highly emphasised by the Government. It would be a real failure to the country if UM, together with other universities, do not spearhead both research and development of new things.
Be reminded that educational excellence can only be achieved through hard work. This is paramount if we want our institutions of higher learning to be noted as excellent places of learning and for research and development.
Sadly, four of our premier public universities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia and Universiti Utara Malaysia did not fare well in the ranking.
In this respect, USM, which was awarded Apex university status, is a real disappointment and certainly did not live up to its status.
DR TAN ENG BEE,
Kajang, Selangor.
I agree with him on most accounts but I did not like the way he ended his letter. Apparently, a lecturer from USM also shared my lack of enthusiasm with his conclusion.
Monday October 12, 2009
OUR VARSITIES GOOD, NO MATTER WHAT OTHERS SAY
I READ with disbelief “Hard work pays dividend for UM” (The Star, Oct 11), where the writer says that “USM … is a real disappointment and certainly did not live up to its (Apex) status.”
I am a lecturer at USM’s School of Education and I guess the time has come for us to follow USM’s motto - “We Lead” - and start educating the Malaysian public about The Times Higher Education Ranking, or any other ranking for that matter, and help people to realise what an absurd ranking it is.
I quote Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin at the International Exposition of Research and Invention of Institutions of Higher Learning 2009 awards ceremony at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre: “We should not relate Apex too much with the THE-QS rankings. Apex isn’t meant solely for ranking purposes and we expect it to show results after 2010.”
Mohamed Khaled added that although the ministry was pleased that Universiti Malaya (UM) had improved 50 spots from last year to finish at 180, it was too soon to have another Apex university.
A quote by Times: “We do not pretend to be able to capture all of the intangible nuances of what it is that makes a university so special, and we accept that there are some criticisms of our methodology.
“These rankings are meant to be the starting point for discussions about institutions’ places in the rapidly globalising world – and how that is measured and benchmarked – not the end point. We encourage that discussion.”
At the same time, we should perhaps start getting the public involved in the various objectives of the Higher Education Ministry’s targets for our institutions of higher education.
We, at USM, decided some time ago that it is irrelevant for us to be caught up in the mythology, that is, the THESR (or any other rankings for that matter), and to instead focus on how we might serve the people of Malaysia and the world in a way that will not just stimulate the intellectual and moral growth of our people, but to also serve the less fortunate and less able.
Whether we are number 1 or number 1,000 on the superfluous and biased rankings of the THESR, we do not care.
Google, “Meaning of the THESR” or “Pros and Cons of the THESR” and you will find that 95% of the world have similar comments about the THESR, and no defence by the top 50 universities.
One would assume that most people of the world will not believe or should laugh at a survey that has a response rate of about 1%, from the 190,000 survey forms and emails issued.
UM, and USM, and all the other Malaysian universities that did or did not “go down in rankings”, are great in their own right and do not need rankings to reinforce this.
Dr THEVANANTHAN NITHYANANTHAM,
Penang.
---
Well said. Two days later, this happened.
Wednesday October 14, 2009
RANKINGS PROCESS IS PART OF FEEDBACK
I REFER to “Our varsities good, no matter what others say” (The Star, Oct 12). The powers-that-be at local public universities should not get tetchy and be embroiled emotionally following the new release of THE -QS rankings. The public can air their comments based on the rankings.
Of course, rankings won’t explain the true quality of any university. But at the end of the day, people around the globe, or employers especially, would look highly at candidates from Harvard, Cambridge, Yale, MIT, Oxford, Stanford, Chicago or Imperial College of London.
Quality is one thing but perception is another. It is about the yardstick and survey. No party in the world can claim that its survey is 100% accurate. But the yardstick or survey of anything gives some clues and direction.
It is similar to what the police are doing in their investigation, which is based on clues, evidence, signs, etc. They give them direction which, hopefully, lead them to prosecute.
If local universities feel they don’t need the rankings and the rankings are biased, then they should not respond to THE-QS survey. They should also ask for the Education Ministry to exclude them from the APEX rankings.
Rankings should not make us bitter and hurt. The rankings process is part of feedback. It is about self-examination.
Even now, government agencies undergo star rating process to rate which agencies have what it takes to be the best. Given the choice, one would prefer to put up at the five-star hotel to the lesser one.
Life is all about ratings and rankings. We cannot say we do not care about the rankings. We must care for the rankings and we must care for the quality of our service.
Even at university, you have lecturers of various rankings: lecturers, senior lecturers, associate professors, professors, vice-chancellors, etc.
So if you really care for the rankings in your career, why can’t be you care for the rankings of the university that you work for? We must take serious care of the quality of our degree courses. We must take care of the standard and quality of our research, even the quality of lecturers.
Nowadays, it is all about the best, top rated quality, second to none. If we don’t care about the quality and the mechanisms to measure quality, then our products and services are dead and have no market value.
Universities cannot claim to be great in their own right because they need to respond to the industries and customers, not to mention the academic world. Universities cannot work in solo.
Let’s face the world. If any university doesn’t care about rankings, I wonder how they select students to do degree courses at their university.
MAT,
Kuala Lumpur.
---On the same day, this also came in.
Wednesday October 14, 2009
I HAVE been reading opinions related to the ranking of universities in The Times Higher Education Ranking. Comparisons were made by Dr Tan Eng Bee of Kajang and Dr Thevananthan of Penang between the ranked UM and the other non-ranking universities, particularly USM, an apex university which was mentioned in a not-so-good light by one of the writers.
In my humble opinion, universities are there as a higher learning institution where intellectuals meet, discuss and cooperate to develop new technologies and uncover new knowledge.Universities are not there to merely be ranked.
Besides, in any form of ranking, people are usually interested in the top 10, not the top 200.
And might I add that the ranking of 89 for UM in 2004 was made in error as Chinese and Indian students were mistaken as “foreign” students rather than local students.
The mistake was rectified in 2005 when the ranking for UM fell to 169 which, if I may so boldly point out, is still higher than the current placement of 180th.
So, rather than focus on how high or low our universities rank in the world, we should focus more on bettering our institutions of tertiary education for the good of all.
Let’s produce graduates who can communicate well in the working world; responsible graduates who are innovative, has initiative and with problem-solving skills. If they can throw in better people skill, it would be a bonus.
In short, let’s create graduates who can do their universities proud, no matter which university they came from.
BIG PICTURE,
Cheras.
---With drama like this, who needs TV?
On a more serious note, read what another lecturer has to say. Plus, a little note from the Vice-Chancellor of USM, Dzulkifli Abdul Razak regarding this issue.
Now back to my coffee.
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