Sumber: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp...&sec=education
_IT was reported that Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has been selected as the nation’s Apex university (StarEducation, Sept 7).
Given such honour, USM has to produce a road map for transformation based on its plan — Transforming Higher Education for a Sustainable Tomorrow.
Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mohamed Khaled Nordin had said that quantitative and qualitative criteria were used to select USM, and that the selection committee evaluated each university’s state of readiness, transformation plan and
preparedness for change.
An equally important factor is the commitment on the part of the government.
The government should first provide adequate resources for the implementation of programmes and activities identified by USM under its Apex (Accelerated Programme for Excellence) package.
Secondly, the university should be given the autonomy to fully implement its own programmes and activities.
Thirdly, the governance structure and the delivery system of the ministry which oversees progress towards achieving Apex status, must be appropriate and responsive towards that end.
Lastly, there will be a need to rebrand USM as an autonomous university based on the fact that it was selected under the Apex programme.
The chairman of the Apex selection committee, Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Mohamed Zawawi Ismail, said that Apex was about business “unusual”.
In so far as USM is concerned, the governance structure which in effect oversees this programme should also be “unusual” in that it can side-step the usual bureauracy.
These are the considerations that need to be factored in when constructing the performance index for the Apex programme, which embodies the government’s commitment in making USM the vehicle to achieve world class status. In December, USM will be hosting the Association of South East Asian Institutions of Higher Learning (ASAIHL) Conference with the theme “University Autonomy: Interpretations and Variations”.
The deliberations at this conference should provide some interesting and fresh directions as to what types of autonomy are deemed essential for institutions of higher learning to move up globally.
For Institut Penyelidikan Pendidikan Tinggi Negara (IPPTN or the National Higher Education Research Institute), which studies the development of Malaysia’s higher education system and institutions, the latest development is indeed very interesting and opens up new areas of research on higher education policy in Malaysia.
PROF MORSHIDI SIRAT
Director
Institut Penyelidikan Pendidikan Tinggi Negara (IPPTN)
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang
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