I refer to the letter by CY Tham entitled 'Reconsider ending TARC courses'.

In his letter, Tham stated the following: "Utar should not be allowed to end up as a run-of-the-mill institution" and further down: "do not disappoint the high expectation of the people who have supported and donated to Utar. We need a top class university and Utar is our hope."

I have had the opportunity to come into contact with Utar students as a guest speaker. Sadly, Tham's expectations that Utar will become a top class premier university are likely to be rather rudely dashed, I think.

Let me first, state that the formation of a merit-based university is without doubt, a favourable development on the education scene. Nonetheless, one must be prompted to inquire as to the level of merits that are being sought by a university.

Most local private collages and universities can state with a fair degree of accuracy that they practise a 'merit-based admission' system. But if their level of merit is low to begin with, then you're back to square one and the proverbial attempt at making silk purses out of sow's ears!

Secondly, there is very little evidence (in the classroom at least) at this point that Utar is likely to be any different from the other private collages and universities: a degree mill and graduate factory.

In other words, it will no doubt turn out students with degrees but whether or not these students will be equipped with the skills they need to be employable is another question altogether.

From my two visits to the Utar classroom, where I had the opportunity to interact with the students, I think that those who expect graduates to come out with critical thinking skills and the poise, confidence and social skills they need to be quality employees, may be sorely disappointed.

Students in the public relations and journalism courses do not appear to have the requisite language skills to handle their future job, even though prospects for individuals with these skills are good indeed.

Out of a class of 150 that I spoke to, only 10 were able to touch-type (an essential requirement for anyone going into the journalism/public relations line) and less than 10 had any knowledge of basic HTML coding (another essential for those planning to enter the new media industry).

Finally, it became apparent to me at the end of my talk that probably about 50 percent of the students did not understand the contents of my talk because the standard of their English is probably SPM credit level only.

A large percentage of the students also appeared to have 'drifted' into their course choices: in other words, they picked the course because of perceptions that it will be 'marketable' and 'employable' rather than based on their own abilities, skills and interests.

This is for a class of students who will go out and become public relations practitioners, who will write speeches for VIPs and CEOs, who will be the reporters of the future. It certainly does not bode well for these students and even less so for the organisations that will have to employ them.

It is difficult to lay the blame at the doorstep of the students at all. Firstly, they are a product of a screwed up education system that has been endlessly tinkered with and tweaked, often without reason, and an education system that has increasingly become more and more insular and exam-orientated.

They are the product of an education system that has made no effort to improve the calibre of teachers and which continues to imagine that the 'nobility' of teaching is enough to attract good candidates to the job.

Secondly, they are to become the product of an educational institution that has not been set up with the right ideals in mind. Utar is so intimately associated with a political party - how can an educational institution focus on objective research and produce good quality top class students in such a politically-loaded environment and context?

As an example: if a lecturer in the faculty of arts and social sciences decide to focus on issues of press freedom as the core of their research and then publish consistently critical research on The Star (an MCA-owned paper) or the lack of press freedom in Malaysia, would they soon find themselves on the side of unemployment?

Another question: Will lecturers be pressured to pass as many students as possible so that MCA can trumpet to the world that it has succeeded in helping the Chinese community get an education?

It is often said that there is a need to take politics out of education - with Utar, we have a fine example of politics and education not just getting into bed with each other, but taking a vow of matrimony.

Venerable institutions of higher learning in the US and UK have a tradition of learning that spans 100 years, if not more. Let's not imagine that a local university can achieve this overnight.

But we certainly will not be taking a step in the right direction unless we are willing to undertake the standards that venerable institutions of the UK and US uphold: vigorous admission standards, passing students of merit only and who conform to the high standards the institution has set for them, academic research conducted without fear or favour, quality teaching from lecturers with professional and theoretical experience and finally, demanding nothing but the best from their students.