Leave research work and concentrate on teaching?

An opinion posted by a concerned parent on TheStar, 12th November 2005.

AS a parent I am rather confused by the letter “Distracted from their real work”, (The Star, Nov 10).

The writer seems to suggest that university teaching staff should be promoted based on their research and publications.

Isn't that a conflict of interest here?

How do teaching institutions ensure that staff actually teach with enthusiasm and dedication, and not in a perfunctory manner for the required time and then leave to concentrate on their own research?

After all what incentive is there to teach if your promotions are based on your research?

Furthermore if teaching staff have enough time on their hands to carry out research, why then do we have 60,000 unemployed graduates, who are apparently so poorly trained that they have to be retrained?

Why was the time spent on research not used to teach weaker students?

After all is it not the duty of the teacher to make sure that every student who walks out with a degree is well trained and competent?

We can always leave research to career researchers and scientific staff.

What do you think?

My personal opinion:
If the lecturer concentrating on the teaching alone, we are just imparting the 'done' work or "textbook" subject content to the students.

Research helps to links the theories with the applications especially in the real society or business environment. For social, scientific or business- related researchs, lecturers and students play a major role in discovering new ideas and knowledge - after all university is a powerhouse of knowledge - where new knowledge should be generated and shared.

I would say the lecturers should strive a balance in term of teaching and research. Teaching without doing a research is just like transfering the textbook syllabus to the students. Research without the teaching will limit the sharing and development of the new knowledge.

I strongly believe that it is the VALUE CREATION that each and every lecturer should possess and undertake to assist the students to manifest their potentials and to help the university to become the powerhouse of knowledge, which will drive the development of the society and the nation.