Source (21 Sep) : Criteria for Apex varsity selection
CONGRATULATIONS to Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) for being conferred the Apex status, the nation’s only varsity to have been accorded the honour.
Many have questioned why the Apex (Accelerated Programme for Excellence) was awarded to USM, while others have voiced their dissatisfaction over the manner in which the selection and decision was made.
Such sentiments are due to the lack of understanding about the criteria required for a university to be accorded Apex status.
If they had understood it, they would then be able to assess it in a more rational manner.
Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin had stated that the ministry had applied three conditions to assess the universities. These were “the state of readiness, preparedness for change and preparation of the transformation plan”.
If these were the conditions for the award, then the university which fulfils them would obviously win. Other factors were certainly not considered. We have to comply with and understand the stated conditions because those were the areas that the government specifically wanted to see.
World-class institutions such as Oxford and Cambridge which appear in the list of the 10 best universities according to THES-QS (The Times Higher Education Supplement-Quacquarelli Symonds), and Shanghai Jiao Tong were not listed in the Webometric survey for the year 2007 among the top 10 universities.
And why was that so? It was because Webometric uses a qualitative analysis obtained from the Internet and the Web content of all the universities that were assessed. This therefore means that if the website of a particular university does not appear to be compelling, then the University will not fare well in the Webometric ranking.
Oxford or Cambridge are not upset or angry with the decisions made by Webometric because they fully understand the conditions that were imposed.
Therefore all the other universities in the country which failed to be awarded Apex status need to internalise and ask whether they were armed to the hilt with the requirements and reinforcements to face the rigorous audit.
Members of the board of directors of the universities too might need to ask if they themselves should also be accountable, and therefore need to focus their attention on this matter. If not, then it is not necessary to question the decision of the Apex-awarding committee.
As the victor, USM has to live up to its new image, which comes with new challenges and responsibilites.
The other universities need to display their existing strengths and capabilities, apart from coming up with a plan that could elevate them to even greater heights.
However, under the current circumstances, it would be difficult for the other universities to out-perform USM because the Apex status comes with special privileges and advantages.
Needless to say, the other universities will be relegated to the proverbial status of “stepchildren”. In the race towards excellence, it follows that with the privileges and advantages, USM would be well ahead of the others.
These are some of the drawbacks that the other universities will have put up with.
One of the objectives of the Apex University is to be listed among the top 100 universities in the world by 2020 and a pre-requisite factor in achieving this is through student enrolment.
The minister also added that he expected USM to be in the THES-OS ranking in five years and to make it to the top 100 by 2020.
Meanwhile, USM Vice-Chancellor Prof Tan Sri Dzulkifli Abdul Razak made a statement that he would question the THES-QS rankings. “What is so special about that ranking that we should break our backs for it?”
He referred to the ranking as a “blind obesssion not fully understood by politicans”.
Such contradiction would confuse many people and the government should now come out with clear statements regarding this.
The 2008 THES-QS rankings is expected to be out next month. What will happen if USM’s position doesn’t improve, or if other Malaysian universities perform well and move up?.
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