The Ministry of Higher Education outlined 11 main focuses based on the goal of restoring trust in the country’s higher education system.
PUTRAJAYA (Feb 5): The Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) has 11 resolutions for 2023, including re-evaluating the position of the ministry and restoring the country’s academic standing to a higher quality and more respected level.
Laying them out in his New Year’s message at the ministry here on Monday, its minister, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, emphasised that the people’s trust in the ministry was crucial in ensuring the success of its aims.
“Trust deficit has become a common problem in various government institutions and systems. We in this ministry are no exception,” he said.
Khaled delivering his new year message to the ministry on Monday in Putrajaya.
Therefore, trust will be an important value and Malaysians must believe in the country’s higher education system, he said.
Khaled said MoHE’s first aim is directed towards the national aspiration which is to develop a civilised country in line with the ‘Malaysia Madani’ concept introduced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim recently.
In line with this objective, a National Review Committee will be formed and it will be given three months to deliver its findings.
“This country needs an efficient and excellent higher education sector. This subject must begin with authoritative and accomplished leadership,” said Khaled.
Thus, he said MoHE will ensure that the selection of leaders at higher education institutions and other agencies will be through a strict, thorough, and objective process.
“We want to find the most qualified and authoritative figures,” explained Khaled.
MoHE guarantees a professional, fair, objective, and non-political behaviour of all of its members, he said on the second resolution of his ministry.
The third focus of the ministry this year, Khaled said, comprises an assessment of the position of the ministry as a whole.
He said the national education sector is the most important pillar for Malaysia’s competitiveness.
“Perhaps the time has come for the national higher education sector to have a unit like PEMANDU or LAKSANA to ensure that all strategic plans are implemented and meet their targets,” he said.
PEMANDU is the national Performance Management and Delivery Unit, while LAKSANA is the Economic Stimulus Implementation & Coordination Unit Between National Agencies.
Khaled said MoHE also plans to empower its Development Committee, adding that all failed, and delayed projects must go through a proper and separate recovery and accountability process.
Priority will be given to the development of digital infrastructure, without neglecting the need to restore, maintain, and upgrade existing buildings and facilities such as laboratories, dormitories, and libraries.
However, the development of new physical infrastructure will no longer be the main focus.
According to Khaled, this move will be stopped until the country’s fiscal position recovers and strengthens.
“Malaysia Madani needs citizens who are egalitarian, knowledgeable, and highly cultured. Only the best education system can produce such citizens.
“Therefore, my fourth goal is to strengthen Malaysia’s intellectual resources,” Khaled said.
Talent empowerment will be multiplied through increased investment in postgraduate, doctoral and specialist training.
In this context, the minister said MoHE will hold discussions with Talent Corp with the aim of attracting the best talents from outside Malaysia.
In light of the rapid technological developments, Khaled said MoHE is also determined to prepare to manage various changes and technological explosions that affect the country’s higher education plans as part of its fifth resolution.
“I suggest preparing a White Paper on ‘A New Horizon for Science, Technology and Innovation – A Strategy for Malaysia’. This White Paper aims to specifically and deeply evaluate the effects and strategies we have in managing various current and future technological disruptions on teaching, learning, and the governance of our institutions,” Khaled said.
On the ministry’s sixth resolution, Khaled said MoHE’s vision should not stop at just being a student hub as Malaysia needs to be a talent and knowledge hub or a universal knowledge center.
“The presence of many top talents will directly strengthen the quality and standard of the country’s higher education.”
The ministry also expressed its hope to nurture the best students, not just in having the most students
Underlining the next aim, Khaled said MoHE plans to carry out a large-scale overhaul of the national technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system and ecosystem.
He emphasized that all national systems must be geared towards three main changes, namely, ‘High Arts, High Tech, and High Touch’.
“The country needs more individuals with skills and technological competence that are future-proof.
“Community colleges should be the top destination for graduates or those who have lost their jobs to get the opportunity to build other skills, to support a career transition, or to pursue interests that have been interrupted,” he said.
Under its eighth resolution, the ministry intends to drive and double the progress of private higher education institutions especially in helping them expand the influence of higher education throughout the world.
“I want to encourage higher education institutions to open various branches and offshore campuses,” Khaled said.
He also called on the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) to join hands with private higher education institutions to market the Malaysian curriculum on the global stage.
Focusing on the intelligence of managing people and the wisdom of handling technology, the ninth focus of MoHE this year involves academic quality and excellence.
Khaled said students should be taught to be smart and sharp.
“We will include all of these in our aspirations to restore academic excellence in the country’s higher education institutions,” he said.
MoHE is determined to improve access and the country’s education funding regime.
The ministry will explore the flexible education space and examine the suitability of making the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) a national trust fund, he said.
This 10th resolution also involves opening opportunities for individuals labeled stateless or refugees to obtain higher education.
Finally, in the process of ‘humanizing people’, students will be given more opportunities, responsibility and space to make decisions through student movements and student unions.
“I would also be pleased if our higher education institutions could promote the taking of a gap year for their respective students,” said Khaled.
To realise the 11 resolutions set by the Higher Education Ministry, Khaled said there must be authority, hope and empathy in its approach.
Concluding his speech, Khaled expressed his hope that the higher education system would be trusted again and that all responsible parties would earnestly make all the necessary changes.