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