Serving beyond retirement
Senior academics have much to contribute, says national Professors Council
the missed opportunity to fully leverage the expertise of professors due to the retirement age of 60 is a cause for concern.
the majority of professors obtain their title when they are 50 years old, so there is only 10 years to harvest their expertise, National Professors Council (MPN) president Prof Datuk Dr Raduan Che Rose told Staredu.
“In neighbouring countries, professors retire at the age of 65, so because we allow them to retire early, we miss that fiveyear gap in terms of what professors can contribute,” he said, adding that professors in top universities worldwide never retire as long as they are able to continue contributing knowledge.
Although professors can be extended on a contract basis, he said additional funds have to be secured, especially for public versities.
Prof Raduan also pointed out the need to ensure professors constantly update their knowledge so that they are on par with their peers from top international institutions.
“We are afraid that once academics get their professorship, without motivation, they will get into a comfort zone, remain there and get paid as they have nothing to lose.
“We don’t want that to happen and that is why we have to mobilise them fully, with their respective institutions recognising their presence to mentor the juniors,” he said.
this is where the role of MPN is relevant. the MPN, said its vice president Prof Dr Kamaruddin M. Said, brings the professors from different sectors together.
“Academics, be they professors or specialists, specialise in one specific and maybe narrow field of knowledge, which is only bits and pieces compared to the bigger perspective of higher education.
“they are like musicians playing their own instruments while MPN is the composer and conductor for this symphony orchestra of knowledge, which brings them together with a composition and directs them, so everyone can hear a good musical performance,” he said.
Prof Kamaruddin explained that this performance is for the future of our nation’s higher education, where experts from various fields gather to present their ideas to visualise a comprehensive action plan that can be submitted to the higher authorities, such as the Prime Minister or higher Education Minister.
“Besides teaching and researching, professors should advise the government by providing input for policy and decision-making,” Prof Raduan added.
Professorial appointments
Malaysia has approximately 3,000 full professors, which makes up less than 4% of the 75,000 academic staff in higher education institutions.
Of the total number of academics, 45% are serving in 20 public institutions and 55% in over 400 private institutions, catering for 1.6 million local and 120,000 international students.
these academics form a hierarchy of at least seven stages, including junior lecturer, lecturer, senior lecturer, associate professor, professor, senior professor and distinguished professor.
Prof Raduan said all individuals must undergo stringent selection criteria before being appointed as professors, whom he considers national assets.
“As a country, we invest in professors by sending them for master’s, doctorate (PHD) and post-doctorate studies, sabbaticals, and seminars and conferences around the world where they present their papers. “to get into that position, they have to meet certain criteria, which include becoming a good teacher, supervising postgraduates at master’s and PHD levels, being recognised worldwide, publishing papers in reputable journals, and presenting them in international conferences,” Prof Raduan said.
he shared that although all universities have full autonomy on the promotion criteria for academic staff, MPN offers guidelines on the minimum standard for promotion in every professorial appointment as a benchmark against all the top universities worldwide.
“this would mean that if one is a professor in Malaysia, one is technically also qualified to be a professor in any part of the world,” he said.
Prof Kamaruddin said when applying for professorship, the candidates would be subjected to evaluation by at least 20 professors.
A typical process starts with an interview at the department, followed by the faculty, peer assessment at the university level and an interview consisting of eight panel members of whom two to three are external international assessors.
Upon appointment as professors, he said, they are evaluated according to a key performance indicator (KPI) which allocates different percentages for aspects such as teaching and supervision, research and publication, academic honours and academic leadership, service to the university and society, as well as consultancy, industrial or clinical networking.
“Different universities have different KPI compositions, so universities that give priority to research will have academics who spend more time focusing on their research and publications that need to be recognised by international agencies like Scopus,” Prof Kamaruddin said.
Prof Raduan added that this is especially apparent in the five research universities in the country, namely, Universiti Malaya, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia and Universiti teknologi Malaysia, where the student composition comprises an equal distribution of undergraduates and postgraduates.
On the salary scale of professors, he explained that professors are remunerated according to the categories determined by the Public Service Department.
“For public institutions, professors at the entry level are known as Professor Special Grade C with a salary scheme of VK7, which is equivalent to Public Service Superscale JUSA C, while Grade B and Grade A professors have a salary scheme of VK6 (JUSA B) and VK5 (JUSA A), respectively,” he said.
On future appointments, Prof Raduan said the new generation of professors must be connected to the world.
“Besides the minimum criteria of the three Rs – namely, referred to by peers, respected for their knowledge by the academic community, and relevant to the current needs of discipline – new professors should have exposure to different mindsets, people, cultures and backgrounds that may add value to our existing system.
“this can be achieved by sending our academics abroad to experience teaching in other global top universities and also by inviting foreign lecturers into our educational system for exchange of ideas,” he said.
New challenges
With new developments in the educational landscape, he explained that although the core responsibilities of professors remain the same, there are changes that need to be adapted over time.
“For example, professors have to be comfortable with online learning. When delivering learning content, they have to deal with a slightly different set of students who are very much exposed, mature and have a global perspective, especial
ly when there are also international students,” he said.
On whether there is a correlation between professors and the quality of graduates, Prof Raduan is of the view that both cannot be directly associated as professors only comprise a small segment of academic staff.
“The quality must be determined by those people who are directly involved with the students,” he said, adding that he considers professors academic leaders who create a multiplying effect on academic performance by mentoring the next generation of young lecturers.
Zhi Yong, 22, a medical student at Universiti Malaya, is a participant of the BRATS Young Journalist Programme run by The Star’s Newspaper-in-education (Star-nie) team.