Ways to improve higher education in Malaysia

WE read with great interest the letter “Call for action to transform the teaching profession” by Hamidi Mookkaiyah that appeared in The Star yesterday (online at bit.ly/4ijaSoJ). We agree with the recommendations proposed in the letter, and feel that such reforms should include the higher education sector as well.

The essential role of universities in human capital development and knowledge advancement faces numerous obstacles in Malaysia which reduce academic effectiveness and well-being and thus impact education quality and research output.

> Heavy administrative burdens: Academic staff members in Malaysian universities face excessive administrative work that reduces their time for both research activities and teaching responsibilities. Their workload is dominated by paperwork, accreditation processes, and bureaucratic requirements which reduce their time for scholarly work.

> Pressure to publish: Aca-demic research productivity has grown into an institutional expectation in Malaysian higher education because lecturers and researchers must publish numerous research papers – but this requirement compromises both instructional excellence and genuine scholarly impact. Predatory journals along with superficial research which fails to push knowledge forward have seen significant growth due to this phenomenon.

> Lack of academic freedom: Academic scholars encounter institutional barriers that prevent them from conducting critical research, particularly in topics the government considers sensitive. The suppression of intellectual growth together with reduced rigorous debate is a major problem within university walls.

> Limited career advancement opportunities: Research output receives more weight than teaching quality and community involvement in Malay-sian universities’ promotion process. This discourages dedicated teachers from remaining in their positions, thus creating an academic system that emphasises research more than it does student education.

> Contract-based employment and job insecurity: The number of academics who work under contractual terms continues to increase while permanent positions decrease, which creates job insecurity. Job instability creates negative effects on employee spirit and diminishes both teaching performance and research achievement over time.

To strengthen Malaysia’s higher education system, we suggest the following reforms:

> Reduce administrative workload: Universities must simplify administrative procedures while enhancing support mechanisms to enable academics to concentrate on fundamental academic duties, such as teaching, research, and knowledge sharing activities.

> Reform research evaluation: Universities need to shift their emphasis from publication counts to evaluating genuine research impact through community outreach and policy change and innovative developments. The enhancement of interdisciplinary and applied research through institutional support leads to better relevance and quality.

> Enhance academic freedom: Academic institutions must create an open atmosphere that protects scholars from censorship and repercussions so universities function as intellectual development centres.

> Balance teaching and research expectations: Universities need to create objective assessment frameworks which acknowledge outstanding teacher performance and mentoring activities and industrial partnerships at the same level as research outcomes.

> Provide stable career pathways: Academics will remain within their institutions to accept permanent positions if universities improve their career advancement systems. Institutions must create professional development programmes to help their academics improve their skills.

The implementation of these reforms will develop an academic atmosphere that generates substantial contributions to national and international advancement.

KUEK THIAM YONG, DR CHEN I-CHI, DR CHOONG YUEN ONN and DR KHOR SAW CHIN

Teh Hong Piow Faculty of Business and Finance

Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman