Hey hey hey, even the King, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Syed Putra Jamalullail is putting on the pressure to the higher education community to reform itself to improve quality and standards. As
reported by Bernama, His Majesty asked university administrators to be prepared to listen to ideas from others although these might not be in line with their aspirations.
"A silent culture is not a healthy culture in an institution of higher education. The ability to view ideas or grievances should be cultivated as this is a platform to practise expressing views at the international arena."
Yang di-Pertuan Agong also asked the local universities to be benchmarked against other established universities (National University of Singapore, anyone?). And in what is can be regarded as a public chiding of our universities:
"Integrity and accountability can be jeopardised by issues such as leadership without clear visions, submission to external pressure, not practising knowledge culture, poor service providers, bribery, breach of trust and graduates who are not competitive and marketable. These issues need to be addressed before any institution can claim its place in the world ranking"
The Minister of Higher Education Datuk Seri Dr Shafie Mohd Salleh was present at the event. But was he listening?
do you realise that the King or the other Rulers are merely puppets, just to maintain the heritage?
ReplyDeleteWe must hail the King for the thought, but don’t expect those deaf ears to be rectified anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteThe king is merely giving a customary speech. They do it everytime at functions, touching on topics of corruption... education... etc etc.. However, no one takes them seriously.
ReplyDeleteKudos to their script writer though.
In order to beat others, ones must know himselve first. If we don't even realised we have weaknesses to improve, then we will never beat the stronger.
ReplyDeleteBy the way Tony, do check out Jeff Ooi's post about schools making arabic compulsory.
ReplyDeleteShafie got fired. REJOICE
ReplyDeleteNow all the VCs of our public universities have to ampu their new boss - espcially those whose terms are coming up for renewal or termination. What better day than today - Valentine's Day - to express their undying love to their new supremo! The phones are already ringing.
ReplyDeleteOMG. Noh Omar is deputy Education Minister. We are screwed.
ReplyDelete