In a study by the Higher Education Rating System (Setara), University Malaysia (UM) has been named as the country’s top university with a perfect score of 5 (excellent) in the research-based university category, for god sake.

But the real funny part comes from no less than the Higher Education Minister Mohamed Khalin Nordin when he proudly proclaimed the system which is used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of public universities so as to improve quality, by continuously doling out more awards to local universities?

As a matter of fact, we all know how UM fares when comes to global ranking for universities.

Remember the "disastrous downward" in the The Times Higher Education Supplement? Top 100 in 2004 and out of top 200 in 3 years time?

It’s awful and terrible that a sound mind is good enough to tell you that total revamp is necessarily vital to regain the glory, excellence, pride and dignity we attained in the past, especially when Royal Professor Ungku Aziz was still at helm, as the VC of UM for 2 decades, starting from 1968? What are essential measures to prod them into action, which is likely to rejuvenate and restore the respected institution to its past glory?

Instead of embolden these institutions via the insignificant award, the Higher Education Ministry should focus on academic and education achievements of our local universities. Honestly, when you’re being labeled as the best, it means you’re basically flawless, or in another word, you’re just perfect!

Hence, what kind of improvement do you expect from an excellent student? Instead of quality improvement as expected from the Higher Education Ministry, I can safely assume that it’s complacency which stands the better chance to creep into the  student’s mind, rather than the motivation to prod them to work harder!

Even if the Higher Education Ministry wants to scream at the top of its lungs the achievements of the local universities, they should continue to pursue various questions, such as, what are the prestigious international awards our local universities have received? What are the breakthrough scientific research produced by the UM academic and research community? What are the percentage of graduates gaining employment within a period of 6 months?

Those will be regarded as the real achievements of a top university, not award like the best among the worst.

When will we ever learn and move forward? It’s indeed shameful while the truth is, glory lies only in the resurrection.

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