Ways to be World Class

In awaiting the announcement by the Prime Minister of Malaysia this afternoon regarding the selection of the university to be placed under the Accelerated Programme for Excellence (APEX), let us ponder upon some of the pointers highlighted by the eminent Asian scholar, Professor Wang Gungwu, about world-class universities at a recent international conference.

"World-class universities need to be consistent in recognising talents and reward them accordingly"

I interpret this statement that transparency and meritocracy being the core values in developing universities to be world-class. This means that evaluation of talents will have no bearing on religion, gender, race, ethnicity, family background or political leaning; but solely on the ability of the individual.

"Sweat and Passion"

To be the best, sweat and passion are the necessities. In my intepretation, passion initiates the drive and motivation in wanting to achieve the objective. In the process of working hard to strive for the objective, sweat is the immediate sign reflecting much efforts had been put into the task. Therefore, sweat and passion are essential items to be the best.

"Modernity do not threaten culture or tradition, but is enriching"

Prof. Wang was talking about modernity of Asian universities. People tend to respond that modernity is a threat to culture or tradition. However, modernity can also be an enriching experience for universities, without compromising the culture and tradition, if great care were given to balance the act. Therefore, universities in aspiring to be world-class need to balance modernity and the preservation of culture and tradition, to provide a wholesome educational experiences for the graduates.

Perhaps, as Malaysians await the announcement for the APEX university, it is also interesting to ponder and reflect about the characteristics of what it takes for higher education institutions in the country to become truly world-class universities, instead of merely taking the various world rankings as the sole indication of success.

Dialogue vs Debate

Prof. Dr. Hans van Ginkel, a renowned academia leader, spoke briefly about the differences of debate and dialogue in one of the conference that I attended recently.

In debate, we argue to win and we have to speak to be victorious.

In dialogue, it is the discourse of understanding and listening.

For a dialogue to take place, the following elements must be present:

• knowledge
• respect
• understanding
• unity in diversity
• inclusiveness

The interesting comment that Prof. van Ginkel made was universities were good in training students for debate, not dialogue. I strongly agree with this statement because university students were taught to present their viewpoint and defend the criticisms that come along the way.

Therefore, perhaps a shift in mindset is much needed, if our society wants to engage in dialogue, as most of the participants in these dialogues are trained to debate and not dialogue.

Global University Model

Several Malaysian universities are vying for the prestigious APEX University Status. I have recently written a series of articles about Global University Model by first looking at the characteristics of a world-class university and secondly to look at the performance of universities in the Asia Pacific.

I further discussed the case of Singapore and Hong Kong in the third part as well as China and Japan in the following section of the series. The concluding part of the series seek to explore how Malaysia should approach world-class status with the characteristics discussed.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five

Appreciate comment and opinion.