UM must play global ranking game all the way

CONGRATULATIONS to Universiti Malaya for being in the top 200 of the THES ranking.

UM has the right combination of strategies to be in the ranking: get the maximum out of the academic staff in terms of publications, aggressive recruitment of foreign staff, and fund international research students, and this will encourage more to undertake research at UM.

Once UM is in this global ranking game, the university must play the game all the way. Lets have more recruitment of foreign staff in 2010 and more money for foreign research students.

In time of difficult economic circumstances in Malaysia, and as a public university, UM has to have adequate resources to play the game full-time in 2010 and beyond.

As has been stated by many observers, if a university’s global ranking is not in the top 50, anything could happen in 2010 or beyond as ranking within the top 50 bracket is very volatile.

Thus UM has to spend more money to sustain or increase the number of foreign staff and international research students. I am sure, with its land bank and private medical wing, the UM has the resources to continue to be in the game.

For USM or other new universities in the peripheral regions, involvement in global ranking may not be a sustainable way to develop Malaysia’s higher education in terms of access, regional equity and sustainability.

If UM and UKM or UTM want to be in the global ranking game and get entangled in this business-driven activity then all the best to them. Every university has its own vision and mission and the public must understand and respect what their have set for themselves.

It would be great for Malaysia’s higher education if we have universities in the global rankings. In the same breathe, we must also salute other universities wanting to change the mindset of Malaysians, who are more concerned about the development of local knowledge and eager to lead the way in terms of their engagement with global and local communities with a view to improve the well-beings of the “bottom billions”.

Admittedly, while these criteria are not counted by global rankings, they are very important to nation-building and international development effort.