KOTA KINABALU: The Malaysia Education Development Plan (Higher Education) or Pelan Pembangunan Pendidikan Pendidikan Tinggi Malaysia (PPPM) will provide the boost needed to elevate the standard of public universities in the country, said Education Minister II Dato’ Seri Idris Jusoh.
He said the new 10-year strategic plan to be launched end of next month would keep local higher learning institutes in tune with the rapid changes shaping up the education sector across the globe.
“With this plan in place, there will be a very progressive uplifting of our public universities,” he said to reporters after the town hall meeting on PPM at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) yesterday.
The public hearing in UMS was held concurrently with a similar session held at UPM, Kuala Lumpur, to gather feedback and inputs on PPPM. Two more sessions will be held today, one each in Penang and Kuching.
“Universities32 will become irrelevant if they don’t change, hence the need for this plan. It will have impact on the teaching and learning process at universities. For example, lecturers will comprise more individuals from the industry, apart from academicians,” he added.
Idris said the new national education plan, which would replace the previous Pelan Strategic Pengajian Tinggi Nasional (PSPTN), highlighted 10 major shifts to address issues currently faced by universities, students and graduates.
Apart from emphasizing on academic excellence, he said PPPM also stressed on creating a culture of good governance and financial sustainability among universities, towards producing quality and holistic graduates.
“What is important is for universities to produce good graduates that are not just knowledgeable but also charismatic, have soft skills, able to communicate well, posses a sound thinking skill, patriotic or in short holistic.
“For this, we need good lecturers and good universities that have excellent administration and management as well as self sustainable in terms of finance. This is what the blueprint is all about,” he said.
The PPPM, said Idris, was aimed at addressing not only the challenges in educating the students but also the issues that would be faced by the students as they embark on finding their career later.
He said 65 per cent of the jobs today would no longer be available for students currently in primary school, when they leave university a few years from now.
It was also an increasing trend that graduates change career up to ten times throughout their lives due to the constant and rapid changes in the job market.
“The world is moving so fast, this is a challenge. We need to transform our entire nation, our universities included, so that we will not be left behind,” he quipped.
On the hearing session, Idris said the response was encouraging with many positive feedback, inputs and suggestions coming from those who attended.
Representatives from the industry, he noted, had urged that the plan should include improving collaboration between universities and the industry players, including in the creation and distribution of research grants and how to utilize natural resources readily available in Sabah.
The Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 was uploaded to the Ministry of Education’s official website for public review. Apart from the town hall meeting, the public can also forward their comment on the proposed education plan via the website.
Meanwhile, UMS vice chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Harun Abdullah said the proposed plan was comprehensive and allowed for delegation of certain power down to the universities, which would empower them towards improving both their academic achievement and administration performance, especially in terms of financial management.
To an unrelated question, he said UMS’ ranking has steadily grown over the past few years, noting that the university had last year received a full five-star rating for teaching and learning, compared to only three-star previously.
The number of students passing their examinations with a pointer of 3.0 and above had also increased over the last few years, he added.
“UMS is moving in the right direction. We only have 20 years to our history and we can’t compare ourselves with other universities that have been established for hundreds of years such as Harvard and Oxford, but we are moving forward and will continue to improve in line with the national education plan,” he said.