Ivy league 
NST REPORT FRONTPAGE:
Major boost for higher education - Going big (Ivy) League
"This is the news that Malaysian parents have been waiting to hear: Malaysia is going to be home to a top-class medical university and business management institution, modelled on the famous Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania."
Besides providing more places for locals otherwise forced to venture abroad, these two institutions will also give the country’s ambitions of becoming a regional education hub a major fillip. It also signals a move by the administration to aggressively chase tie-ups with brand- name foreign universities.
Special Envoy to the Higher Education Ministry Datuk Seri Effendi Norwawi said the Government planned to set up a business management institute and a medical university. He said the medical university could be a collaboration with the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland. The college of surgeons dates back to 1784 while the college of physicians was established in 1654. Effendi said a team from the ministry visited Ireland recently and he had several discussions with Irish ambassador to Malaysia Daniel Mulhall on the matter.
"All I can say now is that it has been very encouraging," he added. A top-class medical university would satisfy the twin needs of meeting the demand for places to study medicine for Malaysians and also attracting students from Indonesia and other countries in the region to study here.
Effendi said the business management institution will involve a tie-up with Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania, one of eight Ivy League institutions in the United States.
"We need an institution to develop human capital here which will not only serve the private but the public sector as well... the business institution will be an independent body and Wharton School will be one of our partners," he said.
Datuk Seri Effendi Norwawi efforts must be applauded. Bringing in more Ivy League Universities to Malaysia will help alleviate the shortages of university places and at the same time reduce the outflow of foreign exchange.
The questions that arise:
Who will be the lecturers of this locally incorporated IVY Unis? Would Wharton, Stanford, MIT accept local lecturers to teach in their programs? Warwick University do not accept local university professors as lecturers for their master degree programs managed by UTM. I am certain Wharton, Stanford and MIT would set much higher and stringent standards.
What about the entry qualifications? Could these IVY Unis accept Metriculation qualification and quotas based on races, without merits?
What about the exams, dissertations, thesis, and assignment markings? Would they maintain the same high standards of their US counterparts or would they be willing to lower down the standards of passing marks and gradings to commensurate with our unmeritocratic system?
In Malaysian universities, lecturers guide the students on the probable exam questions that they will be answering and we gave them tips and solution answers so that they can go back and memorise the answers. Then, when marking, we will use the average students submissions as baseline to allocate marks. When necessary, if the baseline marks ares not achievable by the majority, then, we will lower the passing marks such that we can be seen to have 99% passes and almost all will graduate successfully, except for those who are ultra non-establishment student activists.
Can Wharton, Stanford, MIT, RCS and RCP of Ireland, and Harvard accept our local system? For example, our MBBS (medical degrees) are not recognised by European and American AQF. MIA is not accepted as equal to ACCA in UK. How would our local degrees be made at par with the locally-incorporated Ivy U degrees in the years to come and if not, what would happen to those who graduated from our local public university who would be benchmarked against the local-Ivy U? The Higher Education Ministry had to ponder over the repercussions arising thereof - it would definitely create a continuum and set up a new pandora box of insidious problems.
NST REPORT FRONTPAGE:
Major boost for higher education - Going big (Ivy) League
"This is the news that Malaysian parents have been waiting to hear: Malaysia is going to be home to a top-class medical university and business management institution, modelled on the famous Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania."
Besides providing more places for locals otherwise forced to venture abroad, these two institutions will also give the country’s ambitions of becoming a regional education hub a major fillip. It also signals a move by the administration to aggressively chase tie-ups with brand- name foreign universities.
Special Envoy to the Higher Education Ministry Datuk Seri Effendi Norwawi said the Government planned to set up a business management institute and a medical university. He said the medical university could be a collaboration with the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland. The college of surgeons dates back to 1784 while the college of physicians was established in 1654. Effendi said a team from the ministry visited Ireland recently and he had several discussions with Irish ambassador to Malaysia Daniel Mulhall on the matter.
"All I can say now is that it has been very encouraging," he added. A top-class medical university would satisfy the twin needs of meeting the demand for places to study medicine for Malaysians and also attracting students from Indonesia and other countries in the region to study here.
Effendi said the business management institution will involve a tie-up with Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania, one of eight Ivy League institutions in the United States.
"We need an institution to develop human capital here which will not only serve the private but the public sector as well... the business institution will be an independent body and Wharton School will be one of our partners," he said.
Datuk Seri Effendi Norwawi efforts must be applauded. Bringing in more Ivy League Universities to Malaysia will help alleviate the shortages of university places and at the same time reduce the outflow of foreign exchange.
The questions that arise:
Who will be the lecturers of this locally incorporated IVY Unis? Would Wharton, Stanford, MIT accept local lecturers to teach in their programs? Warwick University do not accept local university professors as lecturers for their master degree programs managed by UTM. I am certain Wharton, Stanford and MIT would set much higher and stringent standards.
What about the entry qualifications? Could these IVY Unis accept Metriculation qualification and quotas based on races, without merits?
What about the exams, dissertations, thesis, and assignment markings? Would they maintain the same high standards of their US counterparts or would they be willing to lower down the standards of passing marks and gradings to commensurate with our unmeritocratic system?
In Malaysian universities, lecturers guide the students on the probable exam questions that they will be answering and we gave them tips and solution answers so that they can go back and memorise the answers. Then, when marking, we will use the average students submissions as baseline to allocate marks. When necessary, if the baseline marks ares not achievable by the majority, then, we will lower the passing marks such that we can be seen to have 99% passes and almost all will graduate successfully, except for those who are ultra non-establishment student activists.
Can Wharton, Stanford, MIT, RCS and RCP of Ireland, and Harvard accept our local system? For example, our MBBS (medical degrees) are not recognised by European and American AQF. MIA is not accepted as equal to ACCA in UK. How would our local degrees be made at par with the locally-incorporated Ivy U degrees in the years to come and if not, what would happen to those who graduated from our local public university who would be benchmarked against the local-Ivy U? The Higher Education Ministry had to ponder over the repercussions arising thereof - it would definitely create a continuum and set up a new pandora box of insidious problems.
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