Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Syed Putra Jamalullail said that university administrators must be prepared to listen to ideas from others although these might not be in line with their aspirations.

"A silent culture is not a healthy culture in an institution of higher education", he was quoted by Bernama as saying.

"The ability to view ideas or grievances should be cultivated as this is a platform to practise expressing views at the international arena," he said in a speech at the opening of the 13th International Conference for University Administrators in Petaling Jaya yesterday.

The four-day conference is organised by Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in conjunction with its 50th anniversary celebration.

It is attended by delegates from local public and private institutions of higher education and from Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei.

Build internal strength

The king said a step towards achieving governance for a world-class university was to benchmark against other established universities and build the institution's internal strength among its staff.

"Integrity and accountability can be jeopardised by issues such as leadership without clear visions, submission to external pressure, not practising knowledge culture, poor service providers, bribery, breach of trust and graduates who are not competitive and marketable.

"These issues need to be addressed before any institution can claim its place in the world ranking," he added.