Malaysian universities to go corporate

Malaysian universities to go corporate

The government wants to transform state-run universities into autonomous business ventures. But as Anil Noel Netto of Inter Press Service reports, academics are cool to the plan.

PENANG, Malaysia: Plans to `corporatise' Malaysia's state-run universities are causing concern among academics who worry that a 'corporate' education sector will focus mainly on business- related classes at the expense of intellectual pursuit.

Concerns are also being raised about the likely increase in tuition fees, and how this may impact on poor parents seeking to secure a higher education for their children.

But the government, buoyed by the economic gains from the privatization of a number of state enterprises, is nonetheless pressing ahead with its plans to give universities a corporate structure, saying it will lead to greater efficiency.

The University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur and the Science University in Penang will be the first to come under a corporate structure, with the 'business plan' for the University of Malaya due to be released in March.

The decision comes amid ebbing morale among academics at Malaysia's universities. Low salaries and a lack of openness in decision-making have led to an exodus of lecturers, lured by the higher pay of the private sector.

Increasingly, universities are facing competition from dozens of local private colleges offering "twinning programs". Under such programs, students can complete the first part of a degree program in a private college and then go abroad for the final stages of their course with the college's partner university.

These links have brought coveted foreign degrees within the reach of the Malaysian middle-class.

Competition for students is expected to grow even more now that foreign universities have been allowed to set up branch campuses in Malaysia.

The government thus sees corporatisation as a way of meeting that competition head on through improved management and better quality lecturers, attracted by the higher pay scales on offer in the corporate world.

"We have to work out a projection for at least 10 years," said Education Minister Najib Razak. "We need to anticipate the salary structure and costs through research, endowment and other means."

The government also clearly wants to be freed from the huge financial burden of supporting universities. To become self- sufficient, universities will thus be given more flexibility in raising income. They can borrow money, set up companies, and even consider investment prospects.

Critics, however, fear, that the move will lead to higher tuition fees. "The main worry is how much students will have to pay after corporatisation," says social campaigner Gan Kong Hwee. "I expect the fees to go up significantly."

Najib admits that the student fees for the University of Malaya have not yet been fixed, but says any increase will be minimal. Moreover, he adds that government intends to offer more scholarships to ensure academically gifted, but not as well off Malaysians, are not denied the opportunity of higher learning.

But Gan remains unconvinced by the government's promises.

"They can give these assurances -- but will they actually be able to provide opportunities to the poor?" asks Gan, adding that a large fund would be required to assist the poor with scholarships, he noted.

Others foresee corporatisation leading to a loss of democratic rights within the university walls. They worry that the decision- making process will move from the senate to the boardroom where the main concern will be about profit, and not necessarily in the interest of the students.

In particular, lecturers in the social science and humanities faculties worry that their courses will be marginalized. Non- business-related courses such as anthropology, sociology, political science and literature will suffer, they say, with increased emphasis being placed on technical and business courses.

Universities, they fear, will no longer be centers of intellectual and emotional growth. Debate on the important issues of life and youthful idealism will give way to crass materialism, as the corporate world invades the tutorial room.

Another concern among some academics interviewed by IPS is that their performance will increasingly be pegged to how much income they can earn for the university -- rather than the quality of their teaching and their academic research.

Already faculties at leading universities have been asked to come up with a business plan, which, among other things, focuses on fund-raising activities.

"Professors will now have to worry about profits," grumbled one senior lecturer at the Science University.

University staff are also disgruntled by the government's failure to involve them in the planning stages of the restructuring exercise, and say that while structural changes are necessary, providing a corporate structure may not be the answer.

"It's the same bus driven by the same driver with the same passengers on the same journey; so how can things get better?" asked one lecturer.

-- IPS