Your 10 Questions

Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abd Razak
Comment
The Star - 11/27/2010

Prof Tan Sri Dzulkifli Abdul Razak Universiti Sains Malaysia vice-chancellor answers ...

I foresee an acute shortage of trained academics in fields such as medical and allied health due to lack of incentives and difficulties in the promotion selection compared to their counterparts in the Health Ministry. How can we improve this? Assoc-Prof Mohamed Azmi Ahmad Hassali, Penang.

I would like to think those who opted to work in the field of medical and health care will treat their noble professions as a calling that transcends above tangible incentives and what is today generally understood as KPIs (Key Performance Indicator).

I missed the old-fashioned health professionals who are able to internally motivate and incentivise themselves in a more intangible way. My suggestion is to draw humanitarian lessons and wisdom from what Gandhi has to say: The number of hospitals is not a sign of health but a sign of decay.

Last year my daughter was offered a scholarship by USM's branch campus in Kepala Batas, Penang to do her PhD in Australia. Based on the letter, she was offered a place in University of Melbourne, Australia. However, the branch campus retracted that offer letter the following month. My poor girl was totally devastated. Is this 1Malaysia and in line with our premier's call to practise inclusiveness? Gor @ Goh Kin Siang, Malacca.

Based on our practice, the department will earmark suitable candidates that meet the criteria set for each programme and would notify the candidates accordingly. This however is contingent to the availability of funds for the said purpose which is not entirely within the purview of the university.

When the funds are not forthcoming, candidates will be given other options to pursue their studies including studying at a local university or part local and part abroad (a split degree programme) until the financial resources are more accommodating.

It is then up to the candidate to respond accordingly. To mitigate transient economic difficulties, this approach has helped to sustain our training programme so that more can benefit from the limited resources.

This is as close to 1Malaysia and inclusiveness as we can get under the circumstances.

When will local universities stop imposing an unwritten condition of producing postgraduates for the promotion to associate professors and professors? Sharom Mahmud, KL.

I cannot speak for other local universities, but in USM the criteria for promotion are a product of consultations and discussions with the stakeholders, and are well documented.

This is affirmed in the Academic Performance Audit Report by an independent panel of auditors appointed by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency when performing the audit in March 2010.

As a chairman of the Malaysian examination board, does it not disturb you that the Malaysian examination board is on the receiving end where mistakes in exam papers are concerned? Do mistakes occur often? Bulbir Singh, Seremban.

I am deeply disturbed when such a mistake occurs because not only does it confuse the students, but also gives the impression that we have not paid enough attention to details.

Although this is not a frequent happening, everyone must strive to do better.

Were there any books that had significant impact on your growing-up years? Faidhi Yusoff, Kemaman, Terengganu.

I love to read about civilisational and autobiographical history in the hope to learn from the wealth of experiences of the past. One that is still vivid in my memory is about Dr Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965).

He left Germany for Lambarn in the then French Equatorial Africa, and founded a hospital.

He was not just a doctor and surgeon, but also a person of conscience, although not without flaws (which I later found out). He was a prolific writer, scholar, commentator on contemporary history, administrator of a village, superintendent of buildings and grounds, yet a musician.

He was conferred the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize, but received it only in 1953 because he could not leave his duties to receive the Prize earlier. With the US$33,000 prize money, he started the leprosarium at Lambarn where he died and was buried.

His deep sense of humanity and calling leave a lasting impression on me, notably, his wisdom: In the hopes of reaching the moon, men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.

How effective are the examinations at various levels at our learning institutions in gauging the efficiency of our overall education system? Tabitha CC Boi, Penang.

We have to concur with the fact that our education system has not changed fast enough with time.

Unesco stipulates that there should be four pillars of education: (a) learning to know, (b) learning to do, (c) learning to live together, (d) learning to be.

Our education system is too geared to the first two, and laid out elaborate examinations to measure them! We have failed to accommodate the other two pillars, more so in determining their impact and implementation.

As a result we suffer as a nation when we opted for a myopic and fragmented education system! Let's hope common sense will eventually prevail.

What are our local universities doing continuously to keep on par with the more renowned universities in the world? Bernard KH Lim, Penang.

Based on the Pelan Strategik Pengajian Tinggi Negara Melangkau Tahun 2020 of the Ministry of Higher Education, there are a number of programmes that have been laid out over a period.

We must be fully committed to see that they are all implemented as planned beginning with a full-fledged autonomy like in all renowned universities.

That said, I do not subscribe to a one-size-fits-all model of a university which some are advocating.

How do the quality of current students at local universities compare to say, a decade ago? Affzan Mokthar, Kuantan.

Comparing quality is always tricky because quality is not time bound.

Today quality is caricatured as something measurable and tangible that leaves those that cannot be measured and the intangibles as deemed unimportant, and not related to quality.

A decade ago, we were more concerned about the development of human being. Today, we are worried more about human capital development. They are just not comparable.

It's been said that local university graduates have a weak command of the English language. Can you comment. Leong May Yi, Cheras.

Weak command of English, relative to what? To the graduates from non-English-speaking countries, ours have a decent command of English.

In both cases, they are still useful and functional. Compared to those from English-speaking countries, ours may not fare as well; even then, this is not always the case.

All is not lost if we regard English as a learnable subject. It depends on what you are looking for.

How transparent/effective is your meritocracy system at the university? K. Kanesan, Puchong.

My main concern is to take the university and education beyond the clichs and jargons of transparency and meritocracy, towards trust and dignity which are a fundamental part to education and learning. It is about learning to live together and learning to be that we have failed to articulate.


* The writer is the Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia. He can be contacted at vc@usm.my