UM dan NUS kembar siam,lepas 50 tahun,prestasi NUS melonjak,prestasinya UM menjunam...

Kembalikan kebebasan akademik untuk tingkat kualiti universiti tempatan...

PKR menyelar pemimpin Barisan Nasional (BN) kerana tidak mahu menerima hakikat bahawa kualiti pendidikan tinggi negara berada pada tahap meruncing apabila enam daripada tujuh universiti awam negara mencatatkan kemerosotan kedudukan dalam universiti terbaik dunia.

Pengarah Strateginya, Rafizi Ramli berkata, kedudukan universiti awam negara yang tidak berdaya saing menyukarkan graduan mendapat pekerjaan baik dengan gaji berpatutan malah masalah pengangguran di kalangan graduan terutama Melayu banyak berpunca daripada mutu pendidikan tinggi merudum saban tahun dan ia disahkan oleh kedudukan universiti awam negara.

“Selepas 50 tahun, Universiti Malaya (UM) tidak pun berada dalam kedudukan 100 teratas di dunia sedangkan Universiti Kebangsaan Singapura (NUS) yang mempunyai sejarah sama menjadi universiti terbaik di Asia.

 “Ini adalah hakikat yang perlu ditangani secara terbuka tanpa prejudis politik atau perkauman kerana mutu dan kedudukan universiti awam negara mempengaruhi taraf hidup rakyat dan daya saing negara seluruhnya.

“Saya menyarankan dikembalikan kebebasan akademik kepada universiti awam tanpa campur tangan kementerian dan kerajaan serta pemilihan kepimpinan universiti perlu mengikut merit berdasarkan kredibiliti akademik, pengalaman mengurus universiti ternama dan  integriti peribadi yang bebas pandangan partisan,” katanya dalam satu kenyataan media hari ini.

Rafizi turut mencadangkan kebebasan minda yang sepenuhnya dikembalikan kepada siswazah dan gerakan mahasiswa menghentikan serta merta aktiviti propaganda politik yang dianjurkan Biro Tata Negara (BTN) dan badan dnegan fungsi sama.

Katanya, program khusus memperkasa kredibiliti akademik fakulti di universiti awam dengan membawa masuk tenaga pengajar dan penyelidik terbaik dari seluruh dunia perlu diwujudkan.

QS World University Rankings mengumumkan kedudukan 800 universiti teratas seluruh dunia bagi tahun 2013 dan enam daripada tujuh universiti awam negara yang tersenarai mengalami kemorosotan berbanding tahun lalu.

UM dari kedudukan 156 pada 2012 ke 167 pada tahun ini, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia dari 261 ke 269, Universiti Sains Malaysia dari 326 ke 355, Universiti Putra Malaysia dari 360 ke 411, Universiti Islam Antarabangsa dari 401 ke 501 dan Universiti Teknologi Mara dari 601 ke 701. - malaysian insider

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When will UM be on par with its Singaporean twin...

They were twins, who later became separated. And while one has gone on to become an academic superstar, the other is in the doldrums.

The situation has saddened PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli, who is demanding for answers.

He was responding to Quacquarelli Symonds' world university rankings, which recognised the National University of Singapore (NUS) as Asia's best university.

In a press statement today, Rafizi said the situation called for drastic reforms to Malaysia's higher education system.

"A lot of people don't know that NUS has the same roots as UM because both were established as University of Malaya in Singapore following the recommendations by the Carr-Saunders Commission.

"In 1959, University of Malaya had two campuses - the original campus in Singapore and a new campus in Kuala Lumpur. By 1962, the campuses were made independent of each other, becoming UM in Kuala Lumpur and NUS in Singapore.

"After 50 years, even though they came from the same root, UM is not ranked among the top 100 universities in the world, while NUS had gone on to become Asia's best.

"This is a reality which must be faced openly without political or racial prejudice because education standards and the ranking of public universities influence our standards of life and the nation's competitiveness," he said.

In view of this, Rafizi mooted that the first thing the authorities should do is to restore academic freedom in all public universities and provide autonomy to the university senates.

"Restore the freedom for critical thinking among students and stop activities or programmes that curtail these. This includes propaganda programmes by the National Civics Bureau (BTN) and similar bodies," he said.

He also urged the authorities to allow the university administrators to be picked based on their academic merit and not based on their political affiliations.

He believes that with these few simple steps, UM's prestige would improve in a mere short span of 10 years.

Rafizi, who himself had stellar academic performance in the past, also revealed that he would be visiting NUS in November to learn more about how the university maintains its standards.-malaysiakini

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