Think tank calls for cut in number of varsities

Otherwise, the number of unemployed graduates will keep increasing, says Razak Baginda.

PETALING JAYA: A think tank has warned that the number of unemployed graduates will keep increasing with the mushrooming of public universities.

These institutions are lowering their standards as they compete with one another to increase their enrolment, according to Abdul Razak Baginda, who heads the Centre for Global Affairs Malaysia (Icon).

“Granted, we need more places for students, but the flip side is that quality is being compromised,” he told FMT.

“So, instead of having good and employable graduates, we have unemployable graduates.”

Higher Education Minister Idris Jusoh was recently quoted as saying that 54,103 of the 238,187 students who graduated last year were unemployed even after six months of completing their studies.

Job recruitment experts have attributed this to the low entry requirements and competitive fees set by most of the 661 higher education institutions available nationwide. They say this has allowed almost all Malaysians to acquire degrees.

According to a book published by the higher education ministry, more than 1.2 million students are currently enrolled in the 661 institutions.

Razak said the problem of unemployment among graduates would not be solved unless immediate proactive actions are taken by the federal and state governments.

He suggested the merger of public universities.

“Our academic pool is very small and it’s impossible to get a large number of academics,” he said. “So mediocre academics are being promoted to higher levels. This perpetuates the rot.

“Why don’t we amalgamate these institutions? For example, right now we have state universities in Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang respectively. But it would be better if we had one big public university on the East Coast instead.”

He said the higher education sector needed to go through a rationalisation process and go for mergers like the banking sector would sometimes do.

“If banks can do it, why can’t we do the same with public universities? The first and primary concern is the quality of graduates, not the quantity.

“I think the whole idea that every state has to have its own university is something we really need to look into. Right now, even the tiny state of Perlis has its own university.” - FMT