New University Ranking 2006

The THES World Ranking 2006 for Universities was out:

Our Malaysian universities ranking:
1. UKM - ranked 185 (previous year 289 - improved 104)
2. UM - ranked 192 (previously 169 - dropped 23)
3. USM - ranked 277 (previously 326)
4. UPM - ranked 292 (previously 394)

A fast glance on this stat show our Malaysian universities are improving on their ranking except UM which is continuing its decline and also losing its premier title to UKM. Significantly UKM jumped 104 places and both USM & UPM jumped to top 300. What's wrong with UM?

Hopefully, more and more local universities can ranked higher in this world ranking.

Happy 1st Anniversary and Happy Birthday too

Today is the 1st anniversary of this personal blog which I started last year.
Today is also my birthday. Received numerous sms wishes plus phone calls too. Thanks everyone for your thoughts and wishes.

As the physical is aging every seconds,
It is crucial to rejuvenate and
be more YOUTHFUL each moment.
The heart, mind, spirit and energy
must constantly remain youthful.
Life is beautiful!
Life is full with missions!
Arm with a strong resolve
Continue to challenge vigourously
Winning the fights each day,
Creating waves of victories each moment
Be the true victor in life!

It was the 1st entry of this blog, a poem created last year.

How about this year?

Dynamic and advancing youth,
Step forward convincingly,
Writing new histories each moment in life,
While remaining youthful mentally and physically,
Joyously be the messenger of peace,
Creating a glorious life each day!

Have a nice day for everyone.

The Success Story of Harvard University

World ranking No 1 university - Harvard University. What makes it so successful? As our local unversities are aiming to develop itself toward world class uiversities, the success story from Harvard University may spring some inspiration for these local unibversities.

Harvard Business School don Prof Daniel Quinn Mills said that Harvard is a major university because of the quality of its faculty.

• The university’s decentralisation policy meant that its president had control of only 7% of the university’s budget.
  
• Every school manages its own budget and its own path, subject only to supervision from the president and Harvard’s seven-member board of trustees.
  
• Every school must finance itself. In the short term, decentralisation creates big differences in salaries, facilities, etcetra, between the schools.
• Decentralisation has also allowed Harvard to use varying methods when appointing staff.
  
• The Arts and Social Science School hires faculty through ad-hoc committees with no special consideration being given to existing staff but the Business School has a policy of promoting from within.

(Source: TheStar, Sunday August 20th 2006)

4.5km Jogathon

After the race was over.

Two of the most mischievous students I had in Grp 1 (BA).

Date: 30th July 2006
Time: Early in the morning
Venue: Bandar Sg Long
Event: UTAR FAM Run

I ran and 'walked' 4.5km for almost 30 minutes. The air was fresh and less vehicles around. Was able to have lots of fun on that day. Attended the event as the co-advisor of the Sports Club, which organised the event. These photos were taken with the mischievous students from BA Group 1.

Exercise is good for health. Live a healthy lifestyle.

Ultimate purpose of education

The ultimate purpose of education is the formation of the individual human being, not only by sharpening and improving his intellectual potentials and providing him with a rich store of information, but also by inculcating in him ethical and moral standards.

Daisaku Ikeda (1992) Search For A New Humanity: A Dialogue Between Josef Derbolav and Daisaku Ikeda.

HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY 2006

Out of sudden, I received a call from my student this morning to wish me "Happy Teacher's Day". Quite touched by this wishes. Well, at least we are remembered for our contributions....or because I'm too strict and sarcastic in the class......hahahaha.

Wishing all the Lecturers and Teachers:

HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY 2006


One of my housemate is celebrating her birthday today too!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 2006!

Seven Blunders of the Worlds

A quotation from Gandhi:

1. Wealth without work.
2. Pleasure without conscience.
3. Knowledge without character.
4. Commerce without morality.
5. Science without humanity.
6. Worship without sacrifice.
7. Politics without principle.

I'm particularly interested on the 3rd point with regards to the knowledge.

What is the true purpose of acquire knowledge?
To contribute the knowledge learned back to the society, in order to enable more people to attain happiness.

However, from my personal experiences, I discovered that some learned PhDs holders or people with high level of knowledge, would sometimes uses unethical methods displaying bad characters in view of protecting one's interest, especially those with positions. In other word, it means to harm others based on the knowledge learned, make others to suffer just to ensure one's position is survived. Then, what is the purpose of acquiring knowledge when it turn out to be harmful.

Thus, knowledge without characters is definitely something that we may have to take note and transform it into knowledge with great and noble character.

The role of the educators is to help the students to discover their inner potentials and at the same time utilising their knowledge in making this world a better place to live with improved ways of living.

If one's hope to be a respectful person, first he/she must respect others and at the same time posessing noble character.

PhD in Malaysia

The recently announced 9MP (9th Malaysian Plan) indicated that by 2010, 60% of academic staff in the public universities should have PhDs.

In another report, the Wan Zahid Higher Education Report, which was made public yesterday, suggested to achieve 100,000 PhDs in 15 years from now.

In line with these interesting reports, it is equally interesting to find a thorough writeup on a blog on how to increase the % of PhDs. Among other issues discussed was how the public universities can boost the number of PhDs academic staff.

1. Send potential PhD candidates to countries where the cost of obtaining a PhD is much lower. (Instead of US, UK or Australia, alternatives such as China, India and Singapore should be considered).
2. Streamline the application process such that potential candidates who have been 'confirmed' are forced to apply.
3. 'Let go' of lecturers who obviously don't have the aptitude or desire to do and finish a PhD.

A lot of interesting comments was posted in the blog as per this discussion.

End of Jan semester.....Yahoo!

At last, it's the end of another teaching semester. Having a week break now before going for another grueling week of marking the exam scripts.

What I had achieved this semester?
1. My Friendster is growing now.
2. My ubai3013 blog is growing too.
3. Higher satisfaction in my teaching this semester.

Feel much relieve after the MSORSM conference was concluded last week. No more pressure and now is the time to catch up with my works and studies.

Feeling the pinch of the increase in petrol price

This morning I went for a full tank petrol pumping for my 5 years old Iswara and I broke the record for being the highest price that I need to pay - RM80.00 for 42+ liter of petrol - it was the 1st time I pump petrol after the price increased last Monday.

Normally it cost only RM60 to RM65 for a full tank of petrol. What a big difference this time....May consider buying a mountain bike and cycle to work next time, putting on the backpack, wearing sunglasses and cap.

Any idea on how to change our life styles to cope with the inflation?

Hi, this is my photo.

This photo was taken on one of the day during the week just post-CNY 2006 holidays. Wearing yellow to prove my colleague's theory. Read the blog entry a few rung below.

I got the shirt from the Taiwan Soka Gakkai Youth Cultural Festival in May 2000.

2 weeks after CNY.....getting busy again

• CNY 2006 already a history.
• Half of the January semester already completed.
• Assignments are pouring in for marking.
• Students thesis groups are constantly looking for their supervisors since the submission is coming soon
  

This are some stories related to the post CNY.

Since Monday this week, the university is embarking on a security campaign where all the students and staff need to wear their ID the moment they step into the campus. This is to prevent unauthorised people from entering the premises. I believe this exercise should be put into action very long time ago.

How to encourage everyone to war the ID card? I'm wearing it because I have inserted the magnetic access card for staff room in the ID card holder together with my ID card - I need to use the acess card to enter into my office.

Some of my suggestions: (These ideas are already being practiced in some of the organisation as well as the educational institutions)

1. Incorporate the smart chip into the ID card

• to be used for entering the each lecture and tutorial rooms as an attendance marking tools (attendance report will be generated upon request by lecturers and tutors or being viewed online)
• library books loan can also be implemented
• e-cash systems for printing, cafeteria and as well as library fines
  

• Information kiosk can be provided around the campus for students to check all the relevant information by using the ID card on information such as examination results, time-table, attendance record and etc

Do you have anymore ideas? Or may be you can share with me whether you prefer to wear ID card or not.

Red or Yellow for CNY?

Fancy wearing Red colour shirt during CNY? Some believe it will bring luck especially during the "investment games" session. I wore it twice and seems like my investments did not perform, it even went below the par and can't get it to break-even.

A colleague of mine suggested a striking yellow may change the Bear into the Bull in the "investment games". Fancy to give it a try?

No matter what, be careful as not to get the much publisized limelights such as getting bald for playing mahjong. I just wonder how long is the uncles' hair that the police need to 'potong pendek-pendek' their hair? Some even look more good looking with the bald head.

Come this Sunday - its Red (Liverpool) or Blue (Chelsea).

Happy weekend!

Rewind.....pre-CNY

1st time since I started working, I took an additional day off before CNY holidays for a short family vacation. Every year, the normal routine will be spring cleaning, rest, watching TV, reunion dinner and preparing for CNY.

This year, the rhythm changed a bit where all these took the back seat as my family went for a short vacation near the seaside. Managed to beat the heavy traffic on Friday noon as well as Sunday noon where the opposite direction of the highway was a long line slow moving cars...imagine being stucked in the jam for hours on the 1st day of the CNY under the immense heat of the sun. Furthermore, my car's aircon was giving me some problems throughout the journey. Quite lucky then, I guess.

I decided not to bring along my laptop as it is a good time to rest and destress, although I had just downloaded a HK drama-series "Life Made Simple" (New Ah Wong) into my hard disk, which I really wish to finish watching it as soon as possible during the CNY holiday (which I did managed in the end). I ended up almost becoming like "Ah Wong" chasing after my two ever-energetic little nephews. Food, sleep, enjoying the sound of the waves and driving - main activities of the vacation.

I recalled that I have a former colleague who used to travel to have a few days stay in a hotel near the seaside whenever he want to write some chapters of his book. Not a bad idea. I may want to give it a try some time in the future.

Back to KL and my CNY begin....half a day later compared to the previous years.

Happy Birthday to everyone as today is the 7th Day of the CNY - Everyone's Birthday!

Back to school & work...post CNY.

Work resumed on Thursday (2/2/06) with morning class at 8am. Still being fresh from the Liverpool-Birmingham City match, a smooth drive from home to office kicked start the day.

The office is very quiet throughout the day - both yesterday and today. Car park is empty. Nearby shops are not fully opened. I guess everyone is still enjoying their CNY celebration.

All these will be transformed by Monday when majority of the students are back from their holiday, minus those who extended theirs, especially from Sabah & Sarawak. Then, assignments deadline are approaching. Another round of madness, hahaha.

Gong Xi Gong Xi

To my dearest friends,

Wishing all of you "Gong Hei Fatt Choy" with good health and prosperity.

Have a nice holiday!

CAN TIME BE BOUGHT?

Most of the time we always find that 24 hours in a day seems not enough for us to accomplish astonishing amount of tasks and works , be it at the workplace or being personal.

This lead to an interesting idea of

Whether time can be bought?

or

Can we buy time?

Any comment? Yours are definitely be welcomed to share with us.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2006

Its the dawn of a new year
A year promises greater adventures
Greater victories and advancement
Forward step by step
Creating greater value in life
Making this world a better place to live
Illuminating rays of happiness
For mankind

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2006

Proper attire during examination

How would you dress up when you sitting for an examination? For the past few invigilation sessions, I noticed that students did wear:

1. Bermuda shorts,
2. Slippers and
3. Baseball cap.

Jackets are common as the temperature at the examination hall may occasionally reaching 15C to 20C.

Should there be any basic rule and regulations on the attire while sitting for examination? Any comments?

How to be a Professor?

General prodecures for promotion of local professors: (Comment given by PROF DR JAMAL H. HASHIM, a professor at a local university) (TheStar, pg 32, 24th November 2005)

1. A lecturer has to apply for the post of associate professor or professor.
2. He has to list all his academic and professional qualifications as well as his achievements in teaching, research, consultancy and administration.
3. His application will go through several stages of internal and external screenings.
4. His greatest hurdle is when his curriculum vitae is reviewed by local and foreign reviewers, and his publications by local and foreign assessors. These are professors at established local and foreign universities in the candidate’s field of expertise. (So, no matter how much a university wants to award a professorship, it normally does not do so without sanction from independent external reviewers and assessors.)
5. The final hurdle is a gruelling interview by a panel made up of internal and external members to review his qualifications, excellence and comments from external reviewers and assessors.

This practice may vary from one university to the next.

Towards Knowledge Societies

This is a summary of an article appeared in the Star In.Tech, pg 2, 24th November 2005 written by Koichiro Matsuura (Director General of UNESCO)

Key points:

Are we on the threshold of a new age? The scientific upheavals of teh 20th century have brought about a thrid industrial revolution: The new technologies that are essentially intellectual technologies. This revolution, which has been accompanied by a further advance of globalisation, has laid down the basis of a knowledge economy, placing knowledge at the heart of human activity, development and social change.

Does 21st century will se the development of societies of shared knowledge?

There should be no excluded individuals in learning societies - for knowledge is a public asset that should be accessible to all.


Five obstacles stand in the way of the advent societies of shared knowledge:

• The digital divide - The number of Internet users is close to 1 bilion, yet 2 billion of people are not connect to an electricity grid and three-quarters of the global population have little or no access to basic communication facilities.
• The cognitive divide - even deeper and much older, constitutes a major rift between North and South, as it does within every society.
• The concentration of knowledge - particularly high-tech knowledge, as well as large-scale scientific and educational investment, on restricted geographical areas, reinforcing the brain drain from South to North as well as North-North and South-South directions.
• Knowledge exists to be shared - but once it is converted into information, it has a price. How is the necessary balance to be struck betwen the universality of knowledge, implying accessiblility to all and respect for intellectual property rights?
• The development of societies of shared knwledge is today hampered by deepening social, national, urban, family, education and cultural divides affecting many countries and by the persistent gender divide reflected in the fact that 29% of girls on the planet do not attend school and that women are under-represented in the societies.

To overcome these obstacles, the nations of the world will have to invest massively in education, research, info-development and the promotion of learning societies.

Practical solutions proposed:

• Invest more in quality education for all to ensure equal oportunity.
• Government, the private sector and social partners should explore the possibility of introducing progressively, over the 21st century, a "study-time entitlement" giving individuals the right to a number of years of education after the completion of compulsory schooling. In this way, everybody would have access to lifelong training and would be given a second chance in the case of having left school early.
• While increasing investment in scientific research and in quality research geared to future challenges, there is also a need to promote practicl and innovative approaches to sharing of knowledge, such as the colaboratory. The new virtual institution, telescoping laboratory and collaboration in one word, enables researchers to work together in cross-frontier scientific networks.
• The need to promote linguitic diversity in the new knowledge societies and turn to account local and traditional knowledge.

Knowledge is like love - it is the only thing that grows by being shared. (An African proverb)

5% Foreign Students for Local Universities

As per today's news:

For the first time, Malaysian public universities will be opened to foreigners, with 5% of undergraduate places in critical courses being allocated to them.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Shafie Mohd Salleh described the move as a social obligation to nations with which Malaysia had exploration rights, especially for petroleum.

Other highlights:

Dr Shafie said the ministry was also looking into rating universities based on disciplines and not under a general ranking as published by Britain's The Times Higher Education Supplement.

“When the faculties are highly-rated because they have good lecturers and researchers, then students are more likely to enrol there, resulting in better quality teaching and research,” he said.

Dr Shafie added that the ministry was currently coming up with a paper on the proposal.

He added that the Government's goal for 70% of lecturers in universities have PhDs by 2010, against the current 29.7%, was a tall order.

As a short-term measure, the Government would be beefing up the number of academics by hiring more foreign lecturers with PhDs.

Angpow, Camera Phone and more....for UPSR 7As

Imagine having angpow, latest technological gadget, a trip to Hong Kong and more to come....for being the top student in the UPSR examination for a 12 years old student. This is what being reported in the newspaper today.

I vividly remember when I was a 12 years old boy, no angpow or any latest tech gadget when I finished top 5 in my class. During the primary school, what I still cherish is the memory of getting a small Lego set from my mum each time (for a few years) as a motivation or reward for being top in my studies.

When it comes to SRP (older version of PMR), a small bookmark from a senior is my most precious memorabilia. No big party, no big present for someone who scored A1 in all the subjects, eventually being the top student in the school, may be the top in the state or may even in the country.....hahahaha.

Time is changing now.....! Should we shower our children with such expensive gifts as rewards for their great examination achievement? Are we teaching our children with the conditional love (if they perform well, they will be rewarded with great rewards)? May be in the future there will be more stories about how high achievers will be rewarded with more extraordinary kind of rewards. Eventually the rewarding system will keep on evolving.

Are you doing the right thing, Mr Academician?

This is an reply from a fellow colleague on the topic that I had posted earlier at: What is the real work of a university academician?

I referred to your blog, and some of the academician work that you have listed are:

1. Teaching
2. Research
3. Send papers for publications
4. Developing new curriculums based on the industry, economics and social needs
5. Supervising students on theses or research works
6. Write books
7. Attending or presenting papers in the conferences
8. Attending meetings
9. What else? ...


While I agree that these are some of the tasks that an acdemic perform, I feel that it is more important to emphasise the function of an academic. In a nutshell it is to remain relevant and useful to the industry AND society.

When academics are disconnected with the needs of society and the industry, we end up in the situation where:

• We teach well, but taught the wrong content,
• We research with accuracy but our findings are valueless to the society industry
• We develop curricullums and conform to all the quality standards, but we end up teaching in an excellent manner the wrong paradigms to our students
• We supervise research, but we merely quantify with SPSS what has happened historically when we should be developing concepts that help us manage in a chaotic world.
• We write books for the sake of publication, but never measure it with the acceptance by industry.
• We organise academic conference for academics so that we all can pay the conference fees and present our papers, never mind that nobody in the industry will want to pay the low fees to come and hear us speak.

The tasks that we list out will grow longer and academics will do more but produce less, as academic bureaucrats wrestle with "controlling" the situation by making us work towards all the wrong Key Performance Indices.

Carrying out the tasks of the academic is futile unless the work and graduates that we produce are relevant to the industry. We may have to stop and re-examine our role in the industry/society and country.

Are we doing things right when the Human Resource Ministry have to retrain our graduates, where no one believes in our SRP/SPM straight As students, and where HR managers sneer at our high percentage of 1st class and 2nd Upper Honours students who behave like diploma holders.

What do we say in reply to all the opinions that the public lay before us. Is it true that we are in an ivory tower still in blissful denial? Or should we become an academic like Peter Drucker, Kaplan and Norton where the industry look towards for guidance in a highly competitive world.

Any prizes for guessing why 90% of the top universities in the world are found in USA and Europe?

Our real work starts when we come out of our state of denial and re-connect ourselves back to the industry.

Something for FUN

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

Try out this link:

http://www.blogthings.com/whatadvanceddegreeshouldyougetquiz/

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.

What is the real work of an university academician?

1. Teaching
2. Research
3. Send papers for publications
4. Developing new curriculums based on the industry, economics and social needs
5. Supervising students on theses or research works
6. Write books
7. Attending or presenting papers in the conferences
8. Attending meetings
9. What else? ...


An entry in Opinion column (The Star, 10th November 2005)

Distracted from their real work

Being an academician, I would like to give my opinion on why the majority of Malaysian universities are not in the ranking list of the world’s top universities.

The fall of Universiti Malaya and Universiti Sains Malaysia in the ranking list, with the exception of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), of the Times Higher Education Supplement is not really a shock to me.

In fact, I feel it is quite questionable how the three universities were listed in the first place.

Most local universities nowadays don't follow the norms of a university.

They do not use paper publications and citations as the main criteria of appraisal any more.

Each year, we see professors and associate professors being appointed with hardly any good international journal publications to their credit.

I don't think citations are considered at all in appraisals in any of the local universities.

Other important criteria such as appointments to the editorial board of international journals and programme committees of international conferences weren't considered.

The local universities are more interested in participating in exhibitions such as those held in Switzerland, Britain, Germany, Korea and the United States.

They are more interested in bringing home the gold, silver and bronze medals given by the organisers, which hardly have any value.

Over the last few years, there have been many academicians who were appointed as professors and associate professors just because they obtained gold medals in these exhibitions.

How could the two or three judges who are not experts in their respective fields and who evaluate research work have so much influence on our local universities' appraisals?

Moreover, these evaluations were done within five to 10 minutes and yet we see so many local universities are so proud of the gold medal achievements from these exhibitions which are more appropriately termed as “trade fairs.”

A paper submitted to a high-level international journal would normally take weeks and months to be reviewed by experts and professors from the same discipline from well-established universities.

The paper would then need to be revised before being published, if it does not get rejected.

However, there is a high possibility that the paper might be rejected.

Compare this difficulty of getting published in high-level journals to that of getting a gold medal at these trade exhibitions.

And yet we see vice-chancellors publicly rewarding the gold medallists from these exhibitions each year.

One way to measure whether a research has made any breakthrough is to do a survey of the hundreds of university researches which won gold medals over the last few years.

How many of these researches have actually been commercialised and brought revenue to the universities?

I think the Higher Education Ministry and the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry should stop local universities from participating in these exhibitions.

Academicians should be doing high-level academic work and not participating in trade fairs.

I want to ask whether Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Oxford or even our neighbours, the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, ever participated in these exhibitions at all to be ranked as the top universities in the world?

STRIVING FOR EXCELLENCE,
Kuala Lumpur.

More updates on University Ranking

A search committee will be established to identify the best candidates to head public universities as well as the setting up of a leadership academy to train lecturers.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Dr Shafie Mohd Salleh said a university’s success was a reflection of the quality of its leadership.

“We must select vice-chancellors who are capable leaders as well as acknowledged academics in their fields and who are committed to making the university a centre of knowledge. "

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Salleh Mohd Yasin said that having a search committee would augur well for local universities that want to become leading institutions.

“Overseas, the appointments of vice-chancellors are largely based on their leadership abilities as well as academic prowess. Now that we are practising meritocracy, we should select the best candidate for the job.”

Universiti Malaya vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Hashim Yaacob said he welcomed the proposed establishment of the leadership institute as lecturers were not trained in administrative matters.

“I think it’s a very good idea as we want only the best. This is also true when selecting a vice-chancellor to head a university,” he added.

Dr Shafie announced that the Government aimed to attract foreign academics of high calibre. Other steps include:

• establishing a pool of academics and researchers who were active internationally,
  
• creating incentives for successful researchers, and
• boosting students’ soft skills.

(The Star, 10th November 2005)

World University Ranking - UM and USM...... The Debate Goes On

For more than a week, much has been debated on the quality of the local education standard after the "disastrous downward" perfomance for the nation most prestigious university - Universiti Malaya (from 89th to 169th) in The Times Higher Education Supplement.

However,

UM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Hashim Yaacob said that the marks the university obtained is more significant than its ranking. UM scored 0 in the employer survey and highest (33) for peer review. The university also scored low in citations (1%) and international students (7%).

“I think that universities have taken the ranking exercise more seriously this year and this has resulted in many of them improving their positions greatly.

“I am not worried because we are still within the top 200 and for the first time a Malaysian university has broken into the top 50 in the arts and humanities and the top 100 in the social sciences.”
(The Star, 30th October 2005)

The vice-chancellor noted that there were more than 30,000 universities worldwide and UM still managed to be in the top 200.

“I want to share my happiness with you that although there are so many universities in the world, we are number 169,” he said, citing other top universities which had dropped by many notches."
(The Star, 2nd November 2005)

At the same time, our nation 2nd ranked university (Universiti Sains Malaysia) was marginally out from the top 200 list, dropping from 111th to 200th.

USM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Dzulkifli Abdul Razak said that the addition of new criteria such as the employer survey could have contributed to the sharp drop in the university’s position.

“Our poor standing could also be attributed to the fact that we are a relatively young university compared to UM which is 100 years old. They have built up a stable reputation in that time.”

Prof Dzulkifli also cited the poor staff-student ratio in Malaysian universities.

“Over the past years we have doubled our intake. USM now has 35,000 students including 28,000 undergraduates but the number of lecturers, about 1,800 has not increased in tandem.”
(The Star, 30th October 2005)

An immediate action by USM:

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has engaged a London-based consultant to report on the reasons for USM being dropped from the list of the world's top 200 universities published in The Times Higher Education Supplement 2005.
(The Star, 8th November 2005)

How about UM?
UM continue to highlight its "outstanding" ranking in the campus billboards on being:

45th in Arts and Humanities,
82nd in Biomedicine and
83rd in Social Science.

Pak Lah:

The Prime Minister wants Universiti Malaya (UM) to study why its ranking among the world’s top 200 universities slid from 89th position last year to 169th this year.

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he was sad to hear of the drastic drop for the country’s oldest university.

“I hope UM will take the necessary action to rectify it.”
(The Star, 30th October 2005)

Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Fu Ah Kiow said :

"...there was no question it must be improved but questioned the accuracy of the survey, especially when a number of respondents were foreign lecturers and students."
(The Star, 30th October 2005)

Let's hear from our Opposition Leader, Lim Kit Siang:

"...the drop in ranking showed “the deep and prolonged crisis of higher education” in the country and urged the ministry to end its “denial syndrome”."
(The Star, 30th October 2005)

Universiti Malaya’s vice–chancellor should be reprimanded for not being worried that UM has dropped 80 places in the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) World University Ranking 2005, said Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang.

Lim said the Cabinet should censure Prof Datuk Dr Hashim Yaacob for his public pronouncement that he was “not worried” and instead felt “great happiness” over the decline of the university’s position in the international ranking.

He also described the situation as “prolonged and worsening crises of higher education” in the country.

In a statement yesterday, Lim called for ministers to highlight the matter during the Cabinet meeting.
(The Star, 6th November 2005)

3 points e-mail proposal to cabinet on world-class universities: (Kit Siang's blog)

Firstly, the establishment of Royal Commission on World-Class Universities in Malaysia, not headed by former government servants but eminent academicians, such as Royal Professor Ungku Aziz, former UM Vice Chancellor Professor Syed Hussein Alatas, former Vice Chancellor of Hong Kong University Professor Wang Gung Wu or distinguished academicians like Dr. Chandra Muzaffar and Prof. K.S. Jomo.

Secondly, the appointment of the “best and brightest” to lead the universities, whether as Vice Chancellor or Deans, starting with the appointment of an outstanding university academic as Vice Chancellor of University of Malaya.

Thirdly, the repeal of the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) to restore the critical faculties of inquiry, meritocracy and academic freedom to usher the return of an university ethos of academic excellence, social awareness and national commitment by academicians and students with the ability to know the difference between right and wrong and the passion to right injustices.

Let's give it a thoughts and strive to improve the quality and professionalism in our teaching, syllabus and education system.


Note: This write-up is a selective excerpts from the newspaper articles and personal blog, used for personal reading and do not meant for any offensive or controversial opinion.

Good Bye to "Mother of the Modern Day Civil Rights Movement."

The world mourns the loss of Rosa Parks.

A staunch upholder of equality, justice and human right!

Rosa Lee Parks who the (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an African American seamstressUnited States Congress called the Mother Of The Modern Day Civil Rights Movement. She is most famous for her refusal in 1955 to give up a bus seat to a white man when ordered to do so by the bus driver. She is remembered as an ordinary person who took a brave stand that provoked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Her role in American history earned her an iconic legacy in American culture and worldwide civil rights movements.

These are some pictures taken from Wikipedia.

Deputy Sheriff D.H. Lackey of Montgomery fingerprints Parks on 22 February 1956 after the bus boycott prompted a mass arrest of activists

Rosa Parks on a Montgomery bus a year after they were desegregated.

Victory March

Start the day afresh,
With strong resolve,
Continue the winning march,
For another glorious triumph!

What is WIKIPEDIA?

Ever heard about Wikipedia? It is the most popular reference site on the Web for this year! It has become the number ONE reference site on the Web, double the traffic of Dictionary.com

A search on the Wikipedia's definition resulted in almost similar writeup:

• Wikipedia is a Web-based, multi-language, free-content encyclopedia written collaboratively by volunteers and sponsored by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. It has editions in about 180 languages (about 100 of which are active) and contains entries on traditional encyclopedic topics and on almanac, gazetteer, and current events topics. Its purpose is to create and distribute a free, reliable encyclopedia in as many languages as possible — indeed, the largest encyclopedia in history, in terms of both breadth and depth. According to Hitwise, an online measurement company, Wikipedia is the most popular reference site on the web. (Wikipedia)

• The world's largest online encyclopedia available on the Web. Using Wiki software, Jimmy Wales started Wikipedia in 2001. By 2005, there were more than a half million entries on every conceivable subject, written by more than 16,000 contributors. Anyone can add or edit an entry. Wikipedia is widely praised for its incredible breadth, covering subjects that would never appear in any encyclopedia. There are so many "eyes" looking at an entry that erroneous information is often caught rather quickly. However, at times, Wikipedia is also disparaged because people can make edits without divulging any of their credentials or experience in the subject, as is often the case with information everywhere on the Web. (PCMag.com) (The Free Dictionary)
  

• Wikipedia is a free, open content online encyclopedia created through the collaborative effort of a community of users known as Wikipedeans. The term comes from wiki, the server program that enables anyone to edit Web site content through their Web browser. The ongoing Wikipedia project began in January of 2001, the encyclopedia offered articles in English and many in a large number of other languages. The Wikipedia Web site encourages readers to contribute to the project's development, for example by submitting needed articles or editing existing content. In addition to the encyclopedia, the non-profit Wikipedia foundation oversees several other open-content projects: Wiktionary, a dictionary and thesaurus; Wikibooks, a collection of free texts and other books; Wikiquote, a collection of quotations; Wikisource, a collection of free source documents; and Meta-Wiki, which coordinates all the other projects. (Whatis.com)

Practicality sunk in...

1. How useful of this Wikipedia to me at work and in my research?
2. Can the references used be quoted in writing, since the wikipedia content can be edited by practically everyone?
3. Any filtering systems on the controversial issues or topics published?
4. Should I encourage my students to use this reference in their works?

Solution... Need to start my personal Exploration on the Wikipedia!

Be Victorious!

Soaring high in the sky,
Energetically and vibrantly,
Advancing courageously,
Armed with the profound philosophy,
Creating glorious victories,
In every aspects of life.

Unauthorised credit card transaction in Malaysia!

Today's Star highlighted this on page 14.

I also receiving e-mails from my friends and students on this matter. Seems like they are quite interested in this case. Afterall, the e-commerce final exam paper that was held yesterday contain a question on e-commerce security...if this news come out a few days earlier...I'm sure more students will attempt this questions.

In fact, one of my student already uploaded this news in her blog. You may visit her blog.

Text copied from the Star online:

Nabbed over unauthorised credit card transactions

BY BERNARD SEE

PENANG: He was a university undergraduate who worked part-time at night at an apparel store at Suria KLCC in Kuala Lumpur.

While working at the store, the 20-year-old student managed to obtain his customers’ credit card particulars, which he allegedly used to make online purchases of RM100,000 worth of flat screen computer monitors and PDAs.

The youth, who was studying for an accountancy degree at a university in Kuala Lumpur, allegedly bought the monitors online from a multinational computer vendor based in Bayan Lepas here.

Several credit card-issuing banks lodged police reports with the Commercial Crime Department in Kuala Lumpur when their customers complained about unauthorised transactions.

On Aug 18, the student was arrested at his house in Bandar Sungai Long, Kajang, when he accepted a monitor from a courier company worker who delivered the package in an ambush set up by the police.

Police seized 19 monitors and three PDAs from his house.

Investigations showed that the student, who started work at the store in June, had sold most of the items to a middleman.

Let's this be a learning for everyone.

Exam marking fever!

Today, a total of 1270 students (the highest for this semester for a single paper) sat for the E-Commerce final examination. It is going to be a real fantastic period for everyone.

Students - At last, they can have a good breathe...no more e-commerce anymore...unless they need to sit for the supplementary examination in few weeks time.

Lecturers and Tutors - Its the beginning of a nightmare, hahaha...a testing period of balancing wisdom and physical condition. I am very optimistic that all the teaching team members will be able to deliver the tasks on time!

Happy marking for everyone!

The Impact of Katrina on Internet Traffic

Got this info from Jeff Ooi's blog on the impact of the Katrina on the Internet traffic in US. The image uploaded is the real-time information of the Internet usage data hosted by Indiana University.

We can notice that the southern part of America especially on areas hit by Katrina namely New Orleans, in between Houston and Atlanta had a zero in the amount of data transmission.

More YOUTHFUL

Received a SMS birthday wish from a friend this morning:

"Wish You More YOUTHFUL!"

What a wonderful wish! Simple yet profoundly phrased!

As the physical is aging every seconds,
It is crucial to rejuvenate and
be more YOUTHFUL each moment.
The heart, mind, spirit and energy
must constantly remain youthful.
Life is beautiful!
Life is full with missions!
Arm with a strong resolve
Continue to challenge vigourously
Winning the fights each day,
Creating waves of victories each moment
Be the true victor in life!