Malaysian universities forever uncompetitive if fundamental problems not addressed — Zairil Khir Johari

APRIL 2 — The latest edition of the Times Higher Education (THE) Top 100 Universities under 50 years old has been published, and the results indicate an improved performance by Asian universities.

Remarkably, four out of the top five universities are from Asia, with South Korea’s Postech (Pohang University of Science and Technology) coming out tops. In third, fourth and fifth place respectively are KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

Meanwhile, countries like Taiwan continue to be strongly represented, with four universities in the top 100. Besides sterling performances by the more advanced Asian countries, young universities from Saudi Arabia, Iran and even India have also made tremendous progress, with the latter making the list for the first time. This proves that adverse socio-political and economic situations are no barrier to academic improvement.

Unfortunately, Malaysia has once again failed to make a presence in the global arena.

This represents a decline in performance as Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) had previously made the list at 98th place in 2012 when the rankings was first published.

While the annual THE World University Rankings comprises all universities, including long-established institutions such as Oxford, Cambridge, MIT and Harvard, the “Top 100 under 50” ranking is a more level playing field.

Therefore, the failure of Malaysian universities, of which all qualify except Universiti Malaya (founded in 1949), to get on the list is a reflection of the deteriorating standards of higher education in our country.

Lack of autonomy and academic freedom

Malaysian universities will remain uncompetitive unless fundamental problems are addressed, such as the obvious lack of academic freedom, continued political interference and the declining quality of faculty.

Only recently, former Bar Council President Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan was disallowed from delivering a talk on “Public Interest Litigation” at Universiti Malaya (UM), in an event organised by the UM Law Society. If leading professional figures in our country are barred from speaking to future practitioners, how do we expect our university students to be able to develop critical thinking abilities that are necessary for a knowledge-based innovation-driven economy?

Meanwhile, when former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad visited only weeks before, he was not only allowed to speak but also accorded a hero’s welcome at the very same university. Clearly, there is political interference at play, which does not bode well for an institution that is meant to cultivate future leaders.

Public universities also lack autonomy in governance. This is evident when the appointment of key personnel such as Vice-Chancellors appears to be decided at the political level rather than by the university’s Board of Governors. On top of that, students continue to be shackled by the draconian University and University College Act (AUKU), which limits their freedom of association and expression.

Academic brain drain

Finally, the quality of the teaching faculty in local universities has also deteriorated. Reputable universities must not only be able to produce and retain good quality local talent, but it must also be able to attract quality foreign talent.

In the old days, our local universities attracted many international academics and leaders of their fields, such as John Funston, Harold Crouch, Clive Kessler, James C Scott and Arndt Graf. Today, there are hardly any great foreign names still plying their trade in Malaysia.

Worse, even local academicians with great reputations have left for greener pastures overseas. Names such as KS Jomo, Syed Farid Alatas, Wang Gung Wu, Johan Saravanamuttu and Azly Rahman have all but deserted Malaysia to serve at institutions overseas. Clearly, we have not only lost our pull factor, but even the push factors have amplified, thus resulting in severe academic brain drain.

Until and unless we resolve these fundamental issues, Malaysian universities will continue to underperform.

* Zairil Khir Johari is DAP Assistant National Publicity Secretary and Member of Parliament for Bukit Bendera.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.