The issue on the need to improve the quality of education in our universities is being widely covered by the media currently. I respectfully wish to contribute to this discussion on a personal level and I trust it will not lead to unfair criticisms or worse, a witch-hunt all round.

As a "founding father" of USM, as well as having spent the best years of my life there as the first lecturer and Malaysian to be appointed Assoc Professor in Sociology and more recently in 2002 as a Visiting Fellow , it is a sad day for me to read about the non-listing of the university by the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES).

It is, strictly speaking, premature to comment on this matter, because I do not have details of what this really means, but the vice-chancellor's reported statement about engaging specialists suggests that he has accepted that something is really wrong.

With the greatest of respect to the vice-chancellor and all others concerned, I should like to make the following points.

- We do not need the appointment of these so-called experts to tell us about quality university education. We are fully-qualified, capable, and experienced within our own educational culture to do this more effectively ourselves.

- What is needed immediately is a total restructuring of the course content of all courses in terms of syllabi and curriculum and in the delivery system.

- We also need to immediately review the positions of all deans/heads of departments with a view to retiring all those with poor track records.

- There will also be the need to immediately appointment all those academically and professionally qualified staff with proven track records of competent teaching and serious publications to the vacated posts irrespective of whether they are bumiputeras, non-bumiputeras or even foreigners.

All these new appointments can be short contracts of up to a maximum of three calender years.

Lastly, the appointment of a panel of senior (retired) educationists should be made to monitor progress every once in six months.