When academic administrators are political appointees, academia can never be politically neutral.
The mission to achieve educational excellence depends on those given the task of managing the universities: foremost among them are the vice-chancellors. They should have a passion for academic excellence, not politics. They are expected by the taxpayers to enhance the academia’s core functions of teaching, research and consultancy.
For this reason, the appointments of academic administrators should not be based on their political leaning or ethnicity but on their academic credentials, scholastic virtues and their proven track record in management. Anything short of this would see them drifting into other domains such as politics to please the political masters to shore up their image.
They no doubt are free to give their opinions on politics but they need to be cautious and impartial when it touches on divisive elements such as race and religion. Such contentious issues, which can upset the academic fraternity and students, should not be raised at any platform, be it political or while performing their role as educationists.
Producing the best minds
Academic administrators should seriously contemplate why the country is short of producing the best minds in peace, literature, science and economics as realised in many other nations, despite having 20 public universities comprising five research universities, four comprehensive universities, and 11 focussed universities.
Universities will not shine if those at the top of the ivory tower lean more towards partisan political activities and crave for more honorific titles to their name.
Academic administrators should look into matters such as academic excellence – their core domain.
There have been instances in the past where a number of academics were caught for plagiarism, cut-and-paste work, stealing works of students, recycling of the same research paper under different titles, paying to get papers published, and unprofessional citations of each other’s work just to prop up the varsity ranking.
Certainly, there is no integrity in such an unethical approach to academic work.
Teaching is a core function in universities: the expectation is that academics are proficient in the language they use to convey their thoughts. Regrettably, the lack of English proficiency brings indignity to academia. It’s not uncommon to hear students complain that some of the lectures are conducted in atrocious English and this is an embarrassment to the university.
Reputable administrators
Graduates today have difficulty finding jobs in the private sector. Foreign direct investments in Malaysia has slackened considerably. University administrators can help provide solutions for how the country can be made more competitive, and how education can play an important role in generating a competent and capable workforce to face the present competitive world.
Universities thus need to be helmed by reputable administrators and not pseudo-academics, and start building up their individual reputations by focussing on niche areas. Only competent academics or professionals should be appointed at the top management level.
Public universities receive 90% of their funding from the government and the balance from student fees. Universities should come up with strategies in niche areas to be worth the money spent. They should also have the acumen to seek private funding.
Universities should build their forte by recruiting high calibre staff, with a competitive student enrolment based on merit.
Staff loyalty and commitment are essential to ensuring sustained quality in good teaching and good research. Universities should ensure that the staff is contented, libraries are properly run, computer systems well maintained, and that teaching room facilities are adequate and conducive. Besides that, ensure that papers and books of international standards are published and that research work is genuine.
Sensitive political issues
Academic administrators should play significant roles in bringing the country to the forefront in research and consultancy to compete with other nations. Many local private universities are doing better than some of the public universities. For instance, the Manipal-Melaka Medical College produces competent medical officers, Sunway, Monash and Taylor’s universities produce employable graduates in business and accountancy.
Public universities should take the cue from some of these private learning institutions. The onus, however, is on the university administrators to do the soul-searching as to why the image of some public universities is deteriorating.
Academic administrators should stop meddling with sensitive political issues that could create uneasiness among races. They are not paid by the taxpayers to indulge in politics. Their focus has to be intrinsically on the academic and professional qualities of the varsities. Just leave politics to the politicians.
Dr Moaz Nair is an FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.