Do we need yet another university?

 

How many universities does Malaysia need? Besides universities, some people are alarmed at the rate we churn out hundreds of PhD graduates every year. Are their fears justified?

What is our focus? Is it the quality of graduates we produce every year? Or the professionalism, dedication and quality of our lecturers? Or the standard of the teaching facilities available at our higher education establishments?

Or are we more keen on having the highest number of graduates, postgraduates and universities in the country? We are a country obsessed with creating records.

Various reports have been made which claim that many Malaysian graduates are unemployable. One reason given was that many lack proficiency in English.

Other employers said that many graduates did not know how to handle stress. A few said that graduates were not willing to work from the bottom and wanted to become managers straight away, with hardly any experience.

The latest university to be established in Malaysia is the Selangor International University which started life in 1995, as the Selangor International Islamic University College. On Oct 14, the Sultan of Selangor gave his consent for the upgrade to take place.

The university is fully owned by the Selangor Islamic religious council (Mais) and it offers foundation courses, diploma levels, and degrees in Islamic studies, business studies, Islamic banking, education, communications and information technology.

Some have expressed concern that our focus is on quantity and not quality.

Indeed, students and parents are spoilt for choice. A few years ago, an online newspaper compiled a list of universities in the country. There were 20 public universities, 414 private colleges, 37 private universities, 20 university-colleges and seven foreign branch campuses in Malaysia.

One parent was worried about the allegations that Malaysian universities were third class or had no global ranking. He said that in the 1960s and 1970s, our universities were world class and recognised for their academic brilliance and quality of students.

He said: “Why build another university when the degrees of some of these universities are not worth the paper they are printed on?”

Another concern that was raised was about the quality of teachers and teaching facilities. Money that would have been spent on building yet another university should instead be invested in producing good teachers.

He said: “We require better institutions of higher learning, not more places with dodgy facilities and low quality teaching staff. Appreciate the need for quality education, not quantity of educational places.”

It is alleged that some firms receive hundreds of job applications from local graduates, but most are deemed unsuitable. Companies that deal with foreign buyers often have a need for graduates with proficiency in written and spoken English.

Managers of many multinationals have complained that the graduates who come for interviews do not leave a good impression mainly because of their failure to communicate. Many parents said more vocational schools should instead be built. Meanwhile, university graduates claim there is a shortage of jobs.

One graduate said: “I went to university and after graduating, became a teacher. I had always wanted to be a teacher, just like my mother; but many of my friends from university are struggling to find employment. Those who have jobs are employed in menial roles. Many wish they had enrolled at a vocational college instead.”

Making it easy to enroll in a university diminishes the value of a good education for all. A university degree will not make people more employable or more intelligent. However, in vocational schools, people learn useful skills in electrical work, welding or plumbing, and can easily find work after finishing their studies.

A skill equips the person for life. Not every child is academic, but those who are good with their hands and can put their interests into practical work, like carpentry, woodwork, electrical work, hairdressing, bricklaying, social work or car mechanics and roofing will find that their services will be in demand. If they leave vocational college with a professional trade qualification, they may find that they can easily earn more money than a university graduate.

Selangor’s latest university offers various disciplines in Islam. Isn’t there already an overabundance of students taking up religious studies in one form or another? Conversely, a student with a professional trade qualification would make a more useful contribution to society. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.