Towards Cleansing “Edu-Genocide” By Rehumanising And Decommercialising Ranking?

Emeritus Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
Opinion - Bacalah Malaysia
April 26, 2024

 

The time to get frenzy again is here.

The so-called World University Rankings has just released the latest product this week (on April 10) which as always brings some good  tidings to feed into the long awaited “hungry” audience. 

''This time it is by subject, making the exercise more “relevant” (read, marketable) for  those who have missed the “bigger” market segmentation! 

As expected, there is something for everyone when “the country charted 22 percent improvement rate in the rankings which offer independent data on the performance of   240 programmes at 25 Malaysian universities”. Wow!

This showcases Malaysia as “the third highest in Asia and the sixth highest in the world.”

Bravo!  – an Anglo-Saxon one to be honest! Not the “world’s” world, where less than 10 nations can be considered as truly Anglo-Saxon if at all. A smart sleight of hand, but who cares as long it is ranked somewhere by someone. Period. 

"And more: among the country’s ranked programmes, 84 improved and 38 were ranked for the first time. Seven allegedly got into the Top 50 (why 50?) – four of which are from the private universities, and three public ones, of which only two are in the Ministry’s official “research” category! 

Sad !

While none from  the private in the “research” category. Based on the subject categories: three are STEM-based: two in engineering; one in veterinary science. 

 

'The remaining are non-STEM! In fact, the country’s oldest (and claimed to be the “best”) has only one in the former! This is against the background that it has the most in the rankings with 38 of its subjects ranked – 21 of which were in the global top 100, including its highest performing entry, that is, Library and Information Management, in 28th place, a non-STEM subject. The next best is Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in 29th place. 

With it goes comments like: “it only demonstrates our ability to excel in a diverse range of disciplines,” and attributes its success to “hard work and great tenacity.” 

Some even claimed: “to providing a holistic and top-tier education,” which at best is awkward given the way ranking has been criticised to over-marketised research and publications; neglecting teaching and learning, more so, community engagement and social responsibility. 

"In particular, as a post-pandemic concern, not to speak of what is beginning to be termed as ‘’edu-genocide” of late! 

Reflecting a huge degenerative dynamics in advancing the ”anthropocene” existential threat said to be emerging beyond the singularity.

Or, is rankings relegated as an ineffective tool post-pandemic to deter an anthropocene future predicted to be around the corner? 

"At any rate, rankings is far from being perceived as the most desirable appraisal tool for transformative or quantum changes in the way collective human behaviours were judged  by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague of late. Almost all of the nations represented were in sync with respect to the issue brought to the Court within the “genocidal” framework. The verdict is indeed very profound. 

Fast forward to the several top-ranked campuses in the last week or so, the translation cannot be more pointed whereby highly valued academic and community talents intersected in humane ways striving to meet the global grand challenges for a planetary non-anthropocene agenda for survival and mutual co-existence.

Whereby, “genocide” tops the list as best exemplified by a myriad of incidences that took place at the University of Colombia campus in the US recently. 

Notably, following the arrest of more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters at the behest of the university president who are being pushed to a corner. 

"Despite this, a day after the arrest by law enforcement officers, the students continued to occupy part of the campus lawn chanting “Free Palestine.” Some allegedly have been suspended on an interim basis. Also “banned from campus housing, and meal plans.” 

But they stayed strong in insisting: “The only moral thing is to do whatever we can.”

In other words, the students (and staff) were unbowed, while the encampment kept growing to be even larger than before. In addition, the university’s own faculty threatened to revolt over an “unprecedented assault on student rights.” 

 

At the same time, reportedly 54 Columbia Law School professors had sent a letter to administrators that states, “While we as a faculty disagree about the relevant political issues and express no opinion on the merits of the protest, we are writing to urge respect for basic rule-of-law values that ought to govern our university.”

“Procedural irregularity, a lack of transparency about the university’s decision-making, and the extraordinary involvement of the NYPD all threaten the university’s legitimacy within   its own community and beyond its gates,” they wrote.

“We urge the university to conform student discipline to clear and well-established procedures that respect the rule of law.”  

Meanwhile,  at various other US universities, including the University of California, Berkeley, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Michigan, Emerson College and Tufts, students have also established protest encampments as inspired by the Columbia bold experience.

Incidentally, while Columbia University secured 23rd position in the same World University Rankings (2024) it is unwilling to betray the conscience to speak the truth to power to (re) humanise education!

And decommercialise ranking with the hope that Malaysian universities taking up the collective leadership in cleansing “edu-genocide.”

• The writer is Rector, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)