The many problems faced by local universities these days can be tackled primarily with academic freedom and diversity, said Universiti Malaya board of directors' chairperson Mohamed Khatib Abdul Hamid.

He said this requirement was necessary for universities to pursue academic excellence and achieve holistic learning outcomes.

"This requires universities to safeguard academic freedom (that) entails non-interference of higher authorities in academic activities of inquiry, teaching and publication," he said in his keynote address at a seminar o­n the role of universities in nation-building.

The o­ne-day event, organised by UM Academic Staff Association (ASA) in Kuala Lumpur today, was attended by some 80 people comprising mostly lecturers and academicians.

Accepting difference

Mohamed Khatib said where there is academic freedom and diversity, many views will emerge, leading to exchange of diverging and conflicting stances.

"Hence, we need to inculcate a culture of accepting difference while engaging in friendly debate and appreciating the diversity of positions.

"Right-wrong, black-white dichotomies should be avoided, especially when these simplifications are misleading or erroneous," said the former Malaysian diplomat.

In essence, he said academic freedom means students should feel free to disagree with their teachers, and not be punished for holding a different view.

"Academicians and students should be free to recommend and criticise policies. University is the place to nurture and challenge students to discover their potential, not to police them towards conformity," he stressed.

Poor quality

He said Malaysian universities are generally confronted with poor quality of students, the shortage of contribution of academicians to research and public knowledge, as well as a decline in reputation.

He added such problems could be traced to the existing academic system and culture.

"There is a dearth of genuine interest and fervour in learning, reading, writing, intellectual discourse and discovery.

"Poor command of English is not the problem here because our students hardly read even in Malay, the language in which most of them are most proficient," he said.

He lamented that students were obsessed with scoring good results in examinations rather than a desire to excel in their fields of study.

Apart from academic freedom, he said, integrity and accountability are equally important to tackle the current problems in universities.

Assess quality

Elaborating, he said university staff must not o­nly monitor the classes but also to assess the quality of the teaching materials and constantly upgrade them.

Universities must be vigilant and stringent against plagiarism, he added.

He said the remuneration and employment system of universities should also "recognise and reward" capability and productive output.

Speakers at the seminar later included former deputy prime minister Musa Hitam, former UM vice-chancellor Prof Syed Hussein Alatas and UM history department's Prof Emeritus Khoo Kay Kim.

The government has long been criticised for restricting academic freedom, particularly through the Universities and University Colleges Act that mandates university approval for student associations and prohibits university staff and students from engaging in political activity.

Last May, the government made a compulsory ruling for lecturers and students to sign a pledge of loyalty to the government

Other more recent incidents include the detention of two university students under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for involvement in opposition activities in May 2001; and the non-renewal of pro-reformasi Dr Chandra Muzaffar's contract with UM in February 1999.