() NEW STRAITS TI~ESHIGHER ED NEW STRAITS TIMES

HIGHER ED 17

COVER STORY

An educationredesign ~ROZANASANIrsani@nst.com.my

+

E hear of many cases wherefresh graduates are unable togain employment upon gradua-tion; nor do they have the rel-

evant skills and opportunity to strike out ontheir own.

This generally occurs when their educa-tion and training are either sub-standard, notforward-looking and rendered obsolete upongraduation or cannot be translated into prac-tice at the workplace., This scenario in the country takes on moreurgency in the face of a fast-changing glo-balised world prompted by rapid technologi-cal advances and the irppendinq impact of theFourth Industrial Revolution,

The Ministry of Higher Education [MOHE]took action to circumvent the issues in 2015viathe Malaysia Education Blueprint [Higher Edu-cation] 2015-2025 which sought to transformthe higher education system to be among thebest in the world that will enable the country tocompete globally.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri IdrisJusoh declared in his mandate in January that2017 is the year of Redesigning Higher Edu-cation - a follow-through and continuing ofexisting efforts designed to produce holisticgraduates who are highly employable - re-silient, innovative and are present and future-ready for the unpredictable job market.

Education, he said, should be made cur-rent, relevant and can translate academicsinto practical output.

And to have the education that is able to de-liver all these', he added that tertiary institu-tions have to better understand the needs ofstudents in relation to the current state of theworld where technology is prevalent. There-fore, there is a need to change the concept ofteaching and learning at the higher educationlevel.

This year, the ministry has looked towardsembracing technology as a means to jump-start a paradigm shift in higner education.

Idris also declared, 2017 as the year of"translational research" - translating aca-demic research into practical solutions tobenefit the industry, academia, governmentand society.

To inculcate the spirit of volunteerism in'undergraduates, the ministry implemented aGap Year programme at eight public univer-sities to give them the chance to volunteer atgovernment agencies.

The ministry continued to be committed tothe mainstreaming of Technical and VocationalEducation [TVET!. and worked on to improvethe quality of TVET to make it a popular choiceamong students,

All in all, Mandate 2017 focused to improvethe overall quality of the higher education sys-tem as well as the calibre of graduates fromboth public and private tertiary institutions,

GAP YEARIn general, a gap year is a one-year break fromstudies or work for an individual to pursue

"

+

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2017

other interests, generally different from hisregular life or line of work. The term is usuallyapplied to students who take a year [or less,rarely more] away from their studies to betterprepare for the workplace.

Malaysia's Gap Year 2017 programme an-nounced by MOHE early in the year involveseight universities - Universiti Utara Malay-sia; Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia [UKMI.Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti TeknologiMara [UiTM!. Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Ma-laysia and Universiti Malaysia Sabah. UKMand UiTM were identified to kick-start the pro-gramme which began in September.

Under the programme, students take timeoff from studies to pursue their interests andare particularly encouraged to volunteer withagencies such as the army, police, Civil De-fence Department and especially those underthe National Blue Ocean Strategy.

It is part of the ministry's efforts to produceholistic graduates, with good academic re-sults,vast experience in the industry and lovefor the nation.

Other than gaining experience, the pro-gramme is expected help to inculcate.patriot-ism in students. A student allowance for theduration of the programme has been pro-posed.

Educationshould be

made current,relevant and cantranslate academicsinto practicaloutput.

lORIS :JUSOHHigher Education Minister

Datuk Seri Najib Razak (right) and Idris Jusoh at the launch of Myren-X in University of Malaya. Looking on isDeputy HigherEducation Minister Datuk Mary Yap Kain Ching. PIC BY ASYRAF HAMZAH

GAME-CHANGING TECHNOLOGYThe enhancement of the existing MalaysianResearch and Education Network's [Myren]online ecosystem to Myren-X - a loo-giga-bit high speed broadband infrastructure - inOctober is set to be a game-changer for thelocal higher education sector.

Designed to be a dedicated network for

research and learning activities with its ownseparate and independent gateway to theInternet, Myren-X increases bandwidth ca-pacity at public universities to a maximum of100 gigabits per second [Gbps] and for otherinstitutions under the MOHE, up to 10Gbps,

It also offers a bandwidth of more than

one megabit per second per student.MOHE deputy secretary qenerat [man-

agement] Datuk Kamel Mohamad, who isalso its chief information officer, said thehigher overall bandwidth speed arid biggercapacity under Myren-X allow huge amountsof data to move at higher spe~d, which is a

requirement of teaching and learning activi-ties.

Myren-X also enables big data researchand experiments which consume huge net-work bandwidth and capacity like those inthe fields of genome, telemedicine and par-ticle physics.

MOHE's aim is to produce graduates who are resilient, innovative and are present and future-ready.

+

+4.

Students are encouraged to volunteer with agencies like the police for their gap year.

"Myren-X is expected to further spur theimplementation of programmes under theRedesigning Higher Education initiative stip-ulated in Malaysia's Education DevelopmentPlan [Higher Education]. It will facilitate newways and methods in 21st century teachingand learning such as collaborative onlinelearning, virtual classrooms and MassiveOpen Online Courses.

"In addition, it will not only allow Malay-sians to access overseas education online,but also enable foreigners to access educa-tion in Malaysia and bring Malaysian educa-tion overseas.

"Researchers in the country can collabo-rate with research communities as well ashave access to international research labs inreal-time," he added.

STEPPING UP ENGLISH PROFICIENCYRealising that Malaysian graduates need theright combination of knowledge and comemunication skills, and more than academicqualifications alone to compete effectivelyin the job market, MOHE introduced the Ma-laysia English Assessment [MEA] which isembedded in the Ecosystem for English Lan-guage Learning and Assessment in HigherEducation to nurture holistic, entrepreneuri-al and balanced graduates,

Tertiary institutions play an importantrole in raising the standard of English of thecountry's graduates and future ge.nerations,and MEA is the platform to do this,

The MEA has three development phases.'The first phase, which started in Septem-ber, involves the construction of the HigherEducation English Language Test Repositorysystem - a "question bank" - developed byUniversiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris.

This question bank will be .used to con-struct standard Common European Frame-work of Reference for Languages [CEFR]exam questions for the English empower-ment programmes in public universities at •the end of Semester 1, Session 2017-2018.

CEFRwas originally developed to improvelanguage teaching in Europe and it is recog-nised in practice as the international stand-ard worldwide.'

The second phase is the construction oftest specifications for formal and informalassessments while the third phase outlinesthe MEA Guidebook and Test RepositoryManual for users.

These developments are expected to becompleted in stages by end of next year.

At the launch of MEA in October, Idris saidassessment is not only critical to learning asit provides a bridge between teaching andlearning, but it can also enhance the latterand drive a student's educational experience,

STRENGHTENING POSITIONAS REGIONAL EDUCATION HUBTo achieve the nation's goal of becoming aneducation hub in the region, MOHE believes itis important to harmonise public and privatehigher learning institutions rather than havethem seen as separate entities. Therefore, itis important that private higher education in-stitutions adhere to a strict set of regulationsthat will ensure their quality.

Institutions in the private higher educationsector consist of diverse types, sizes, capa-bilities and capacities. There are 487 PrivateHigher Education Institutions lPl+Elslin thecountry and this makes regulation challeng-ing. Hence, ACT 555 was enacted in 1996 toregulate the operations of PHEls.

In order to address the current transfor-mation and challenges in the private highereducation sector and facilitate the operationsof these private institutions, Idris said it isimperative to amend ACT 555.

The amendment of ACT 555 came intoforce on Nov 28 and it is expected to lead tobetter regulatory practice that will allow theimprovement of the quality of PHEls througha performance-based regulation. The Ma-laysian Quality Evaluation System for PrivateColleges [MyQUEST] is an example of a per-formance-based rating system to evaluatetheir quality.

MyQUEST informs the private institu-tions of their performance compared to oth-ers which facilitates competition and drivesvalue; enables individual institutions to en-gage in self-reflection and identify areas ofimprovement; enables potential studentsand their parents to make informed choiceswhen it comes to the pursuit of knowledge;and enables stakeholders, such as sponsors,to determine education sponsorships.

MyQUEST also enables the ministryto ensure that private institutions operatewithin the regulatory framework and meetthe goals of providing the best education thatMalaysians deserve.

An improved performance in MyQUESTwill boost the reputation of the colleges, aswell as raise the public's confidence in thenation's ability to provide quality higher edu-cation.

+