In Feb 2012, I wrote this. It was about foreign universities setting up branch campuses in Malaysia. Malaysia has this ambition of becoming the education hub of Asia! BUT how many universities do we need? Probably, with the deteriorating education quality, we may have 100% graduates in near future, almost all unemployable!
Few days ago I saw this report in the newspaper (see below). According to our Higher Education Ministry, we have 506 IPTS comprising 34 IPTS with university status, 21 with university college status, six branch campuses of foreign universities and 413 institutions with college status that are still active. We also have at least 20 Public Universities/IPTA. OMG! I wonder where do all these universities get their academics or human resource from. No wonder we are seeing so many graduates unemployed or unemployable! I feel it is just too many for a small country like ours.
UK with hundreds of years of world-class education has about 115 universities and 165 higher education institutes for a population of 63 million. Almost 10-20% of their students are international students. Our population is just 29 million. UiTM which is the biggest university and the only race based university in the world is producing at least 100 000 graduates/year with a target of 200 000/year by 2015. We will definitely be flooded with graduates. There are just too many redundant courses being conducted by these universities. Imagine we have 9 universities producing aeronautical engineers !! Are we a rocket producing country? We should probably concentrate on technical fields like automotive engineering, technicians, electrical and IT engineers etc as mentioned here. Even in Europe, the job market now is in knowledge and skill intensive occupations.
The Bar council seem to be having the same problem like doctors (read here)! Today, the Bar Council openly said that the current quality of law graduates are deplorable. They can’t speak English and can’t communicate. Furthermore, they are calculative and do not want to work? Sounds familiar? This is what I have been writing about fresh medical graduates as well. I feel our education system is to be blamed for this, coupled with the attitudes of parents who over pamper and overprotective of their children. Children should do what they are really interested in and not what the parents want them to become. I did not realise that there are only 14 500 lawyers in this country, half the number of doctors!
Our education system on the other hand should expose our children to the world and not keep them in a cocoon. They should also encourage school children to read and enjoy learning rather than rot learning. I can always see a BIG difference when I speak to a national school student and to an International School/Singapore school student. The gap is quite big, I must say.
When you politicised education, this is what happens. Education should never be privatised or commercialised. We may reach a point where we may not be able to turn back. I don’t see anything fantastic in the National Education Blueprint that was launched last month. There is also a BIG problem with the teachers in our national schools. Many are there just to get a paid job. I know many unemployed graduates who were absorbed to become teachers. Knowing their attitude, I can only feel sorry for the students. This blueprint DO NOT address this problem. In fact, the solution was that, under-performing teachers will be sent to non-teaching related jobs in the school!! So, basically he earns the same but get to do less work! Same story all over again. The lazy ones get transferred to a less busy department and the good ones work hard for the same pay! Typical of our civil service……………..
The day when the government take drastic measures to sack under-performing civil servants is the day the service will improve, including the education system which was once a world-class education. Unfortunately, our politicians are more interested in taking care of their seats!
20 applications to set up IPTS
rejected last year
Last updated on 18 October 2012 – 07:23pm
KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 18, 2012): The Higher Education Ministry rejected 20 of the 46 applications to set up private institutions of higher learning (IPTS) with the status of a college last year as they did not fulfill the conditions stipulated.
Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said the setting up of an IPTS could not be made arbitrarily and only institutions that were truly qualified would have their application approved.
“As of Aug 31, 2012, there were 506 IPTS registered with the Higher Education Ministry (KPT) comprising 34 IPTS with university status, 21 with university college status, six branch campuses of foreign universities, and 413 institutions with college status that are still active,” he said when replying to a question from Datuk Sapawi Ahmad (BN-Sipitang) during the question and answer session at Dewan Rakyat today.
He said the ministry was always carrying out monitoring with the target of visiting 150 IPTS each year under “Ops Matang” besides periodical supervision through specific operations including “Ops Antarabangsa”, “Ops Kejururawatan”, “Ops Klinikal” and “Ops Kelayakan Masuk”.
“Under the Weeding Out Ops, the ministry carried out enforcements on IPTS that were not viable and in 2010, a total of 27 IPTS had their approval revoked while 15 other institutions had their registration cancelled,” he said. –Bernama
Young ones do not meet benchmark
set by employers, says Bar
By NICHOLAS CHENG
nicholascheng@thestar.com.my
KUALA LUMPUR: All young Malaysian lawyers do not meet the standard international quality benchmark set by their employers, according to a Bar Council survey.
Bar Council treasurer Steven Thiru said the survey, conducted on 400 law firms, also found that employer satisfaction of new working lawyers was “shockingly low”.
“It found that young lawyers practising for less than seven years do not have basic attributes like English proficiency, communication and critical thinking skills and commitment to the profession, which is vital for the career,” said Thiru at a forum between the Bar Council and the National Young Lawyers Committee (NYLC),
He said the problem was prevalent among both local and foreign university law graduates.
Thiru placed the blame on the failure of several tertiary education institutes, which did not include practical skills with academic learning.
“So, what we get is law firm employers having to retrain young lawyers in basic practical skills that they should have learned in university,” he said.
The findings come in the wake of the NYLC’s recommendations to the Bar to increase the wages of young lawyers and provide more flexible working hours.
The young lawyers have been complaining that they are being paid “too little” for the amount of work they do.
The NYLC, citing its own survey, said 28.2% of young lawyers in the Klang Valley wanted to leave the profession in the next five years while another 38.7% were considering leaving.
Outside the Klang Valley, 15.3% said they would leave and another 48.2% were considering.
“Most cite low salaries and no work-life balance as the main reasons for opting out,” said NYLC chairman Richard Wee.
He said most young lawyers were attracted to overseas firms offering better benefits.
He said NYLC had suggested a starting pay of RM3,000 to RM4,000 a month for young lawyers in Klang Valley and RM2,500 for young lawyers elsewhere. The current salary is RM2,000.
He said that of the 14,500 lawyers in the country, 2,070 were considered as young.
Thiru and other senior lawyers however, said young lawyers did not deserve the raise.
Chee Siah Le Kee & Partners’ Wong Fook Meng said young lawyers should earn the raise they were demanding for.
“They fail to realise that they should be working to learn and better themselves as lawyers, rather than focus on the cash.
“There are no shortcuts, young lawyers must create value and contribute meaningfully to their firms to justify higher compensation,” said Wong, who is a member of the Bar Council’s Constitutional Law Committee and former NYLC deputy chairman.
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