UM students should end self-denial, buck up
YOURSAY
'Our graduates are shame to nation and yet want to hide the fact.'
Anonymous_3faa:
This Universiti Malaya Students Association (PMUM) president Fahmi Zainol knows nothing about the value-added significance of university rankings to the academic status of the institution.
He has the same mentality as his mentor and Education Minister DPM Muhyiddin Yassin. And if he is the leader of the PMUM, is there any wonder about the quality of those he is leading?
That is the sum of how little he is getting educated from the once well-reputed UM.
Factnot Fiction:
He is a typical coward with a self denial attitude; now our universities are worse than manure. Our graduates are a shame to the nation and yet you want to hide the fact. Be a man, face reality and work harder to improve before it is too late.
Sleepy:
The reasons given by Fahmi for not pursuing university rankings shows the current low calibre of the students enrolled in premier educational institutions. I was from an era (the 70's) where getting into premier universities speaks highly of the individual.
I did not get into such universities simply because I was not good enough then, although by today's standards I may now be over-qualified.
Imanust Nais Yalam:
Fahmi epitomises the typical graduates of Malaysia's universities under the bumiputera policies. They don't have the maturity of thought to see the big picture, the drive to compete with the best, nor the edge to take on difficult challenges.
Don't we have enough of parasites already?
Wira:
Students of Universiti Malaya. Let me give you advice. It is not enough if you think you are good. Others, especially your potential employers, must think so too.
That's why a gauge of the educational standards of the premier institutions of higher learning is important, to find out how they rank alongside others. Speaking as an employer, I tend to give graduates from local institutions the miss now mainly because, everything else being equal, I might as well recruit someone from a ranked university.
As least I know such institutions pay attention to their image and will do the right things to improve standards so that the degrees they award are comparatively worth something.
Victor Johan:
"Fahmi said in the pursuit of meeting criteria in the university ranking system, lecturers have been forced to produce journal publications at the expense of lecturing." Really?
Aren't these lecturers hired and paid to teach in the varsity? If they're focused on producing journals instead teaching, then these are not teachers or lecturers but opportunist 'researchers' using those academic grants to generate journals and earn money.
Are these journals to enhance learning of those varsity students? Basing on the logic that you portray, just what are your entrance qualifications into University of Malaya, Fahmi Zainol?
Basically:
The research papers required of the lecturers are meant to gauge if they are of quality, whether they have ideas and material that in turn reflect on their ability to groom their students into more than just parrots.
To publish a paper you have to broaden your knowledge, dig for answers, come up with creative solutions, scour for information and sift out truth from falsehoods, these are the things that will be passed down to the students.
We don't need lecturers who just mouth out material from textbooks prepared by others. We may as well just hire robots.
Pemerhati:
The low ranking of the once premier University Malaya has nothing to do with what Fahmi says, but everything to do with Umno’s racism. Former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad started the ethnic cleansing of the public service, including the education sector, in a big way to impress the Malays so as to get their electoral support to stay in power.
This enabled him to steal by the billions. It also resulted in the drastic lowering of standards as many low calibre and incompetent Malays were recruited as university teachers in preference to the many high calibre and competent non-Malays.
Umno’s racism again reared its ugly head when it came to university admissions as a large number of Malays with poor academic results were taken in while an equally large number of non-Malays with very much better results were denied admission.
We now have a situation whereby a large number of low quality teachers teach a large number of low quality students who should not be in the university. The standards are thus bound to fall.
Gth:
What kind of students are these? Always wanting to hide under the tempurung as long as they are safe inside it. It's not just about ranking but the quality of the university's facilities and lecturers in accordance with internationally-accepted standards.
These students like Fahmi are to be Malaysia's future political and corporate leaders? That's sad for Malaysia.
Tembikai:
Fahmi, with student leaders like you the country's education system will surely go down the drain. It is precisely the ranking system that may perhaps force changes to the Malaysian universities.
Like it or not, rankings will make sure the universities and their academics have some sort of quality. Are you telling me that universities in Thailand and Indonesia are wealthier than ours? I think you should resign as the student leader. You are not good enough.
Winson Chang:
The PMUM president is just a loser, yet the student body can elect this kind of person as its president. That shows how weak the student body is, to not have the confidence to compete with other varsities.
Everything for them needs a handicap. That is why these university graduates cannot get employment.
Not Smart:
Typical kampong boy mentality. Former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad recently used two correct words that are synonymous to this mentality, i.e. lazy and ready to blame.
Too lazy to attain higher standards and ever ready to blame others when they are left behind.
Opportunities were initially created as a handicap starter for bumiputera to move them to a higher status, but looks like they are demanding for the handicap to stay on forever.
Wake up boys. The world has slowed down for you for a while now. Look around whilst others are overtaking you and ponder for how long you need the crutches. Shame on you.
Ranjita Kaur Whitemoon:
Fahmi, why don't you go to a special school where you are guaranteed to score first place, since rankings and competition don't matter, right?
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