Uni Honour Roll

Sometimes, the papers just confirm my worst fears about Malaysia... that we are bunch of 'syok-sendiri', jaguh kampung boys.

This is rather old news, but I didn't have time to write about it up till now. The Star published an article proudly proclaiming that 5 of our local universities made it to the top 100 of the Best Universities in Asia. It proudly proclaimed that UM at No.42,UKM ranked 58 and USM ranked 69, UPM ranked 77 and UTM ranked 82.

I got curious, and decided to take a look at the full list. Here's what struck me... Japan has almost 30 over in that list, China has  11 BUT...... Hong Kong has 3 universities in the 5. Singapore's has two in the top twenty. NUS comes in at No. 3! Can you imagine? Hong Kong has only around 7 million people yet they are right there on top. Singapore has a population of around 5 million is also right there on top. I was in Singapore when I read the article, and a quick check with the Singaporean newspapers reveal that, you know what? It's not exactly front page news. This achievement did not come as a surprise. After all, excellence was what they aimed after.... expected even. I don't know about in Hong Kong, but I'm pretty sure it's similar there too. Even Thailand has a university higher ranked on the list

And here we are tooting our own horn, proclaiming that Malaysian universities... quite good wat.... top 100 man! Wah Seh!!... And we're still higher than Indonesia! Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Papua New Guinea and Mongolia not even on the list leh.....We got five you know!

What does it say about us if UM, our supposedly top university in the country ranks at 42, and we are actually happy about it?

We should stop patting ourselves in the back so much and start asking ourselves why we aren't higher on the list. If we pride ourselves in being one of the top rising nations in South East Asia, why are we so happy at this result, when our neighbors Hong Kong and Singapore are right up there par excellence despite having such a tiny pool of talents to rely on?

We all know just how good (Read : Bad) our local universities are, barring a few individual excepts here and there in respective faculties. That's why a lot of people who can afford it inevitably send their children overseas to study. Those who don't have that option are left to the mercy of our local education system.... otherwise you should just get home schooled. We KNOW the quality simply just isn't there. Don't believe me? Just check the English literacy level of fresh graduates and you will have your proof.

There is one saving grace. Great minds usually have a way of surviving bad training. And I believe that is why you still see bright, intelligent and capable people coming out of universities. Not so much to the credit of the institution, but by their own mettle & hard work. There are plenty and plenty of capable Malaysians with world class calibre - friends, acquaintances & relatives we know are talented and good.

The good will always remain good, regardless of where they go. It is the job of a good university, is to make the good even better.


And that is what the Malaysian universities themselves need to strive to be - even better.

Is there a university for universities?