Justifying funding for higher education

I GREW up on the Universiti Sains Malaysia campus because my father worked there. Our house was a short bike ride away and my brother and I used to cycle all over the place. It was really a beautiful campus with old colonial-era buildings set on hills overlooking the sea.

We swam in the old pool with its high diving board and we had school concerts in its halls (using our insider connections). On Fridays and Hari Raya, we would pray in the university mosque.