Speaking to FMT, Omar Abdul Rahman of UCSI alleged that many Malaysian academics were obsessed with gaining international recognition to the point of neglecting their role as agents of change.
“It is good to be recognised internationally, but why are they at the same time ignoring the changes they can make to help the future generations live a better life?” he said. “They don’t realise that universities are able to play a strong role in influencing transformation.”
Omar said he was prompted to push for educational reform in 2010, when he noticed an active discourse on the changing role of universities among academics in western countries.
“They spoke of delivering education from the business perspective, with courses designed with real industry input,” he said.
He called for a similar approach in Malaysia, saying education should be oriented towards creating a meaningful impact on industrial activities.
“Only by doing so can our socio-economic landscape transform and improve,” he said, adding that academics must be willing to move along with the changes.
“Unfortunately, a lot of academics prefer to stay in their comfort zones, unwilling to challenge themselves,” he said.
“Having that in mind, I hope to reach out to younger academics who are not set in their ways.
“Hopefully, there will be some who’ll be inspired to move towards supporting this change after understanding how it can contribute to the country’s socio-economic transformation.”
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