A National Professors Council?

I read with shock and dismay that the Higher Education Ministry is proposing to set up a National Professors Council, or NPC \”to maintain the credibility of institutions of higher education.\”

Allow me to ponder the issue. Is the ministry framing the problem correctly? What problem is this policy initiative addressing? What then are policy-making or policy initiatives and interventions all about?

 

To my mind this policy initiative reminds me of a national innovation summit that a former Mosti minister organised in a great hurry, by forcing all the agencies under Mosti to take space and booths at an exhibition.

I too attended. But, it turned out to be neither a national conference, nor a summit, nor was it about innovation! The entire conference and exhibition was held at the Palace of the Golden Horses hotel for reasons only known to the government.

Where is the science behind the decisions?

As a student of policy analysis and policy formulation, please allow me therefore to ask some very basic questions about our science of policy-making before we get into, what we at the older Intan called, \”pendulum decision-making.\”

A policy is only as good as the minister who makes it; and therefore it often changes with them too.

Any good policy formulation must have four basic elements that define a policy analysis methodology. At Intan we called it the Deep method of problem analysis first taught and introduced by professor Moniem El Melighi.

Using the methodology, one first describes the problem, or the gap between the ideal and the actual.

Most times the ideal is a perceived or envisioned reality or an expectation of the preferred future state of being.

The actual is the realities being currently experienced often on the ground.

The gap between these two states forms the first step of the problem definition. The more accurate the problem definition, the better is the quality of problem analysis.

The second step calls for an explanation. To explain the problem, one needs to understand and to analyse the underlying theory or the potential cause and effect relationships that explain the effect premised on causes.

A good and simple method of cause and effect analysis is the Ishikawa method often called the fishbone analysis.

Often, at a more serious level, like that for a masters or doctoral dissertation, the analytical method also includes serious literature review of all related content for problem formulation and problem analysis.

After a comprehensive review of the explanation and a good appreciation of the problem\’s cause and effect, and after applying the Pareto Principle for problem prioritisation, a serious and focused data-gathering methodology must be developed.

Evaluating the incidence of occurrence of the major causes will help begin to clarify the proposed resolutions to overcome the problem. Premised on such an evaluation and the requisite analysis, the prescription to problem resolution can be made.

Doing all of the above four key steps in a rational and professional way is what we call the Deep method of analysis

Application of Deep analysis

Let us apply this methodology for the Higher Education Ministry\’s problem analysis and policy resolution.

The current problem as it appears to them is the credibility of higher education in Malaysia.

The proposed solution presumes that the professors are part of the solution to this problem and therefore makes the NPC their solution to the problem.

But, what would an i deal situation be for the Higher Education Ministry if their so-called \”professors\” were, for example all brilliant and excellent? Maybe the simple truth is only 10 percent are brilliant.

Therefore, one can only guess that the NPC is the resolution designed to address the credibility gap. But, an alternative cause of the credibility gap may also be understood as the quality of undergraduates who become ‘outputs\’ to the system.

If there are excellent undergraduates who fit well into workplaces and public places, or they are world-class individuals who can find jobs or work anywhere in the world, there would be no problem at all. But, that is obviously not the current situation, I would assume.

From my own tertiary reading and research, I believe that a large number of local undergraduates from public universities are not employable because they cannot speak well, write well, or communicate well, especially in English.

To me, observing from a distance, that is the problem gap today between the ideal and the actual in undergraduate education.

The NPC resolution

The Higher Education Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin was quoted saying there were 1426 professors in institutions of higher learning nationwide who could act as a source of advice and new thinking in upgrading Malaysia\’s competitiveness.

This source, comprising excellent and brilliant professors, is now being offered as a resolution to the problem of Malaysian competitiveness, presumably in Malaysian undergraduate education.

Extending the logic of what the minister means, the real problem that the NPC may be trying to address is Malaysia\’s educational competitiveness.

If that is really the core issue or problem, the more fundamental question is if this is truly a policy concern for resolution by the ministry? Could this problem be left to the economic ministries and to freer market competitiveness? Should not the focus be to ascertain the quality and standards of Malaysian undergraduate education instead of centralising control via the NPC?

Why isn\’t the Finance Ministry, the Economic Planning Unit, or the trade ministries addressing free market competitiveness instead through the National Economic Council?

The way forward

I once wrote a paper for the American Society for Public Administration\’s PA theory conference entitled ‘Stories teachers profess: why they may be better than science.\’

In the groves of academe, the word profess connotes telling the truth about a subject matter vide teaching it. Good teachers are individuals who impart worthwhile life lessons to students based on the subject matters of their focus.

Stories are real-life happenings, which become the metaphors or allegories of learning and education for the students. Therefore I concluded that good teachers impart life-changing lessons to students that then steer and guide student lifestyles into becoming change agents themselves. Learning then becomes a way of living for these students.

Merely creating new institutions cannot moderate educational standards.

Malaysian academe does not need another so-called ‘council of elders\’ for educational economic competitiveness.\’ What it needs are professors who are living examples of what they profess and teach.

We need a higher education system that critically challenges the minds and hearts of students and which transforms them into becoming value-adding change agents.

In fact, higher education should become just that – a refined methodology to transform the schooling of secondary students with mere information into becoming positive change agents with character and knowledge to bring about the quality of life aspired to by our many, many slogans.

May God bless Malaysia as we continue to experiment with failed methods of poor policy science.