10th Malaysia Plan: Higher Education

The 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) was tabled in Parliament today. From reading the report in The Star, two aspects of higher education was mentioned. First, research and development (R&D), and second, the employability of university graduates as well as university's autonomy.

In terms of the R&D, first and foremost, a word of congratulation to Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) becoming a research university. While increasing the number of research university could arguably enhance the R&D activity in the country, it is equally important for the mid-term and end-of-term reviews of 10MP to critically evaluate the R&D performance of these five public universities. This is to ensure that not only the number of research universities increased, but the quality of R&D as a whole will also improve.

The second aspect of higher education mentioned in 10MP is disappointing. The Star reported:

"To improve the competence of graduates, their employability will be one of the KPIs of universities. Financial allocation to universities will depend on the achievement of their KPI targets. In addition, the Government will grant gradual autonomy to the universities to improve their performance."

I have to admit that I have not read the actual 10MP report. However, if The Star reports accurately, the above statement illustrates a gloomy future for Malaysian universities. This will perhaps be a "first", whereby the university will have to be openly held accountable for the employability of their graduates. This sounds to me like the Chinese saying, "you married a wife with a promise of getting a son".

Such a statement reflects a highly distorted understanding about education and university. First, the business of university is about education, and certainly not about vocational or job training. Second, it is also be a known fact that public universities in Malaysia have limited authority and autonomy to select students for admission at the undergraduate level, with the exception of USM being the APEX university. While universities have to accept whatever given to them at the admission process, it would be rather unfair to impose such a condition pertaining the quality of the graduates, after merely educating them for a relatively short period of three to four years. As a whole, this statement seems to me more like an attempt to shift the responsibility, from the government to universities, in solving the apparently insolvable problem of graduates unemployment in Malaysia.

At the end of the same quote reported in The Star, the point about university autonomy was mentioned. This statement, on the one hand, is much welcome as this is an open acknowledgement by the government that granting autonomy to universities will improve their performance. However, on the other hand, there has been no further indication whatsoever about how and when this autonomy will be granted, and equally important, what it meant by "gradual". It could perhaps remain a rhetorical statement about university autonomy in Malaysia.