Commenting at a recent roundtable discussion organised by IDEAS on “Autonomy and Accountability in Higher Education in Malaysia”, chief operating officer Tricia Yeoh said in a statement, “Although the findings are not yet conclusive, what we found is that Malaysian universities were a lot more autonomous in the past than they are now.”

She said this was true from a financial and administrative standpoint, where public universities used to enjoy far more freedom than they do now to make their own decisions.

“But with the introduction of acts like the 1971 Universities and University Colleges Act, universities have now become subject to government intervention, be it in terms of syllabi to the appointment of vice-chancellors,” Yeoh said.

The study also showed public universities today were severely limited in their ability to raise funds, given that they did not have the freedom to set their own fees unlike universities abroad.

She said this had a direct bearing on the quality of research produced by universities and even its performance in global rankings.

“The lack of autonomy also has direct consequences on governance, as we found that autonomy forms a key role in improving overall governance in universities.

“What we hope to do with our research work is to have more universities and members of government to come on board with the idea of autonomy and its importance,” Yeoh said, adding that she hoped the government would seriously reconsider some of its laws and policies on universities.

The four-part study took an in-depth look at how universities have fared over the years in terms of freedom to manage their own internal affairs and the laws that govern this ability. Also under scrutiny was the historical role of universities and whether there had been a departure from this traditional role.

“Finally, we are conducting a comparative study of autonomy and its impact on university governance. Using examples of best practices from abroad, we also make recommendations on how public universities in Malaysia can be better governed,” Yeoh said.