ARE WE ON THE RIGHT TRACK?
A“GLOBAL search for quality” provides 398 hits in the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP). It shows the need for quality in every aspect of our lives and in planning Malaysia’s future.
Since 2007 and the enactment of the Malaysian Qualifications Agency Act, quality assurance is an irrefutable part of the topography of higher education in Malaysia.
Like it or hate it, the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) continues to champion quality assurance of the higher education sector. Crucially, supporting global recognition and graduate employability that are declining in recent times.
Graduate unemployment is at an all-time high of 13.6 per cent (May 2021), while international students’ enrolment started declining in 2017. Malaysia needs an innovative approach to sustain higher education amid multi-level challenges.
Education-exporting countries show us that higher education is sustained through quality. The 12MP focuses on quality in two catalytic policy enablers, i.e. developing future talents and accelerating technology adoption and innovation.
However, despite numerous references to quality, there are inadequate mechanisms to sustain quality impact.
The 12MP acknowledges that there is still more to be done to enhance quality and improve graduate relevancy to meet market demands. But, it falls short of telling us how this can be done!
Similarly, the 12MP focuses on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) by suggesting increased intakes and institutional improvement in developing future talents as there is a mismatch with industry needs. However, it does not tell us where, at what level these improvements should be made.
Similarly, establishing a ranking system for TVET institutions and a National TVET Council does not necessarily impact graduate quality. It will be helpful to identify with greater clarity the industries where these gaps exist and how they can be bridged.
The 12MP further proposes strategies to strengthen the private higher education subsector by promoting innovation in educational technologies, virtual learning, and experiential learning.
However, the plan falls short of allocating financial impetus. Suggesting that an already stretched subsector use existing financial facilities, waqf or crowdfunding to upgrade and modernise information and communications technology assets and digitise teaching content will not help achieve the target.
Perhaps, it will be better to offer tax benefits and subsidies to the institutions. On the other hand, the proposal to amend laws to enhance governance to improve the quality of services and increase the potential of the private higher education sector is helpful.
In brief, the plan falls short of identifying all the persistent issues and indicating realistic aspirations to tackle some of the more glaring quality challenges within higher education.
Broad stroke approaches such as elevating the quality and leveraging emerging technologies do not augur well for higher education in Malaysia that needs urgent interventions, particularly after a devastating Covid-19 pandemic that has levelled some of the recent sectoral achievements.
To labour this point, while Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are being promoted, will it not make more sense to strategise the use of MOOC for selected fields of study or as a vehicle to increase access to higher education for students in remote corners of the country?
Quality cannot be achieved in isolation. The 12MP’s deliberation of higher education quality is at best provided in silos.
Thus, there is no guarantee that any significant higher education quality can be achieved at the end of the 12MP.