Universiti Malaya (UM) vice-chancellor Ghauth Jasmon has shot down suggestions that he is obsessed with the institution's ranking.

um indian department memorandum 250809 ghauth jasmon "I am not crazy about rankings, though this is a plus factor and a marketing point to sell to the world.

"Some people say that I am crazy about rankings (but) I certainly am not crazy," he said.

Ghauth ( right ) was reacting to a Utusan Malaysia report yesterday, quoting the UM Academic Staff Association (Pkaum) that the university had slipped into a crisis after 146 of its academic staff resigned, since 2009, in protest against Ghauth's new academic policies.

NONE Speaking at a press conference at UM today, Ghauth emphasised that he was doing his job in trying to restore the university’s competitiveness.

“As far as I am concerned, I want to bring UM to a stage where we can compete with renowned universities around the world. All these universities are renowned because they have good achievements.

“As vice-chancellor, I’m saddened that we have lost out to universities in Singapore and Thailand and it is my duty to restore our position,” he added.

‘Number of resignations is normal’

Refuting the numbers of those who had left, Ghauth stated that only 76 academic staff had resigned since 2009, with another 43 retired and four had died.

“I can’t do anything if people die (and) I don’t have a time machine to bring back those who retired,” he quipped.

The resignations come to about 30 a year, and this, Ghauth claimed, is normal for any university.

universiti malaya um student 130607 However, when asked about the statistics provided on UM’s website that there were 122 resignations between 2009 and 2010, Ghauth reiterated that the figures he provided were the latest.

“The most reliable figure is what we have given, maybe those figures are not updated, these figures are hot from the oven produced by my director of human resources,” he said.

The vice-chancellor also denied claims that the university was hiring foreigners to replace its academic staff which now stands at 1,858.

“The Higher Education Ministry has set that a research university must achieve at least 15 percent of international staff... Our’s comes to about 16 percent which is close to what the ministry has set,” he said.

‘We are not understaffed’

He also denied that the university was facing staff shortages, adding that there is a large pool of academic staff undergoing training and will soon return to the university.

“Now we have a total of 466 staff whom we have sent to do their PhD overseas and another 79 students who are doing their PhD under our Brightsparks Programme and these people have a choice to be taken into UM when they complete their studies,” he said.

On claims that the university only considered publications in ISI journals - used as a benchmark in international university rankings - for promotion opportunies, Ghauth said it was not true.

“Books published with Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka, UM press, UPM press, all are accepted. Publication with the faculty which are mostly in the national language are also taken into account in our promotion criteria.

“So when people claim publications in the national language are not taken into account, that is not true,” he said.

The new policies are part UM’s three-prong transformation programme which includes reforms to its staff, academic performance and financial independence.

Ghauth added that no action against Pkaum was necessary as he was thankful that the incident had highlighted UM’s policies.

“If they want to see me to give me a memorandum, I’m happy to meet them. Whatever has happened with Pkaum, I have no knowledge, I only knew through the newspapers,” he added.

 

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