What are Malaysian universities for? – PenDaPaT

This is a further response to the recent debate about “world class” and Malaysia’s higher education. For this debate to be meaningful, we believe a more important question that needs to be asked is “What are Malaysian universities for?”

Professor Stefan Collini from Cambridge University in his book titled “What are universities for?” argues persuasively why universities matter to everyone in society. Universities, he says, are the single most important institutional medium for conserving, understanding, extending and passing on to the next generations the intellectual, scientific and artistic heritage of humankind. Therefore, we believe that as part of our concern for Malaysian universities, it is pertinent to reflect on the role of these societal institutions.

Theoretically, Sybille Reichert in a European University Association report outlines four models of the role of universities. First, the Sober model views universities as just another knowledge-based institution. Universities are not fundamentally different from other knowledge-based businesses and industries, only perhaps with a greater number and wider range of experts.

Second, the Creative model posits universities as societal institutions that should be concerned most essentially with optimising and nurturing creative potential of individuals.

Third, the Purist model, which is based on the Humboldtian principles, suggests universities seek a critical distance from their social, political and economic environment in order to optimise their innovative potentials. Universities are also expected in a single dimension to transfer and disseminate knowledge to their stakeholders.

Fourth, the Social model outlines the role of universities as an important critical counterbalance to governing forces and attitudes, where the public role lies in its ability to widen the access to knowledge and its benefits to as wide a range of individuals as possible. The fourth model also implies that universities should seek to be the first to identify and define future developments and problems and to offer solutions to complex societal concerns.

Practically, Malaysian universities have combinations of the characteristics outlined in the four models. There were times where our universities were considered merely as another school or knowledge-based institution that produces graduates and conducts research, while at other times, we expect universities to educate the most talented individuals to become creative and train the skilled workers needed in our economy.

The Humboldtian principles have also been strongly embedded into the culture and structure of our universities, where at times, we consider them “ivory towers”. Yet in times of needs, universities are expected to be at the forefront in addressing social, political or economic needs. Indeed, the roles of universities are complex and societal expectations are ever rising.

However, not only are the roles of universities complex, contemporary Malaysian universities are also required to serve our interests at the local, national and global levels. For instance, Malaysian universities and their various faculties and departments have created a section to focus on community and industrial engagements. The underlying idea was to bring universities closer to the community and to proactively address problems and issues of the local needs. Nationally, Malaysian universities are tasked to educate our citizens and train our workforce. In addition, our universities are also expected to be an engine of growth in a knowledge-based economy through their roles in research, development and innovation activities.

Yet globally, Malaysian universities have to compete for better positions in university rankings and to reach out and recruit more international students. Local academics and researchers are also encouraged, or at times required, to publish their work in international journals rather than addressing the local and national needs in solving problems through research and development. We have to acknowledge that it is not possible for us to fully unpack the complexities underlying the roles of Malaysian universities.

However, suffice to note that without giving due consideration to the important and fundamental question of “What are Malaysian universities for?”, our discourse about Malaysian universities will at best remain as mere rhetoric. Thus for the sake of the future of our universities as the most important institutional medium in society, we as a nation have to be aware of the competing roles of our universities and contribute ideas to determine how best to balance these economic, political and social roles and expectations in moving forward.

* This article was written by Datuk Morshidi Sirat and Wan Chang Da on behalf of Pertubuhan Pembangunan Penyelidikan dan Dasar Pendidikan Tinggi Malaysia (PenDaPaT).