CHALLENGES IN GRADUATE EDUCATION IN MALAYSIA

UTM

Assoc Prof Dr Aminah Md YusofAcademic Manager (Research and

Scholarship)School of Graduate Studies

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Prof Dr Zaidatun TasirDean

School of Graduate StudiesUniversiti Teknologi Malaysia

• Increase in graduate enrolment• Women exceed men but at master level• An increasing number of female candidates

in intake and enrolment is clear evidence of this case.

• Female candidates joined doctoral programs with excellent under graduate achievement and had shown high level of completing their study successfully

• Expansion of non-traditional students• The changing environment (globalization,

influence of technology)• The academic profession (changing role of

teachers, lecturers & development of new generation of staffs)

• Higher Education Finance (adverse trend, securing revenue and saving cost)

• Governance (adopting of successful universities models)

INTRODUCTION – Current Trends in Graduate Education

• Threats – Political, Technological, Economical & Changing in environment (Globalisation)

• Attrition Rate: – Doctoral level – in US: 40-50%

• Getting and Keeping Students in University– Reduced in intake– Limited no of programs that

identify and retain talented undergraduates

• Time taken for Completion◦ Open-ended nature of doctoral

research◦ In the US it averages at 7 years

• Lack of a clear path transparency for Doctoral programs

• International students completed faster than local

Current status

POSTGRADUATE IN MALAYSIA

CHALLENGES IN POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION

Issues and Challenges

Quality

Quantity

•2023 – 60,000 PhD Holders•2008 – 8,000 •2014 – ± 12,000

•Quality of research•Quality of training•Research Skills•Supervision skills•Social skills•Communication skills•21st Century skills •Industrial relevance•Output -

•Stakeholders requirements•Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA) -Accreditation•Ranking and Rating

Vision 2020

•Financial sustainability•Low ROI

•Prudent graduate management

•How fast and well HEIs respond to changes

•Intake•Enrolment•Retaining pool of students•Widening access vs limited

CHALLENGES IN GRADUATE EDUCATION IN MALAYSIA

Malaysia: GE ConcernsCHALLENGES IN GRADUATE EDUCATION IN MALAYSIA

• Process – Quality of Training

• Educational• Examination• GOT

– Quality of Research• Research

environment• Supervision• Research outcome• Quality Program

• Output – Preparedness for career

in different section – Employability– Job Opportunities

ISSUES OF POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION IN UTM

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia • The oldest public engineering and technological university in

Malaysia. The university specialises in technical studies, with separate faculties for the engineering divisions such as Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical and Biomedical engineering. It also has faculties for Education, Pure Sciences, Management, and Human Resources Development. It is the country's major source of graduate engineers and similar professionals.

• > 20,000 students on campus, more than 50% of them are postgraduates. Since the 1990s, the number of foreign students, particularly from neighbouring Asian countries, the Middle East, and Africa, has been increasing, especially in postgraduate programs. UTM graduates have gone on to many academic and professional institutions across the world.

• Universiti Teknologi Malaysia is located in Johor Bahru, the southern city in Iskandar Malaysia, in the south of Peninsular Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia.

ISSUES IN GRADUATE EDUCATION IN UTMINCREASING INTAKE/ENROLMENT- Sustainable intake

PROGRAM QUALITY-Mismatch SS and DD-Imbalance-Industrial relevance

PARTICIPATION RATEINTAKE – sustainability of intake

TECHNOLOGY-Online degree-MOOC/webcast

ATTRITION AND COMPLETION ISSUES-Progress -Completion & Non –completion-Delay & Failure -High Enrolment

ETHICS AND VALUE-Ethics in pursuing study-Ethics in performing research-Academic dishonesty

INCREASING NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENTS- PhD Industry, remote, part timer

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS MANAGEMENT-Encourage students to come but no effort to retain them-Cross culture conflict-High expectation

MEETING STUDENTS’ EXPECTATION- Students of different nature - Support services

MOTIVATION AND SUPPORT-Students/supervisors-Admin staffs

SUPPORT SERVICESSUPPORT FACILITIES

FACULTY AVAILABILITY-Commitment-Expertise

FINANCIAL SUPPORT-Aid to students-Aid to system and process

DIVERSITY WITHIN GRADUATE EDUCATION- Different school of thought – emphasis!

SECURING THE NEXT GENERATION OF SCHOLARS-Emphasis on critical research area

QUALITY-Programs-Students-supervisors

PROGRAM SIZES-Too big-Too small

STUDENTS ISSUE -Mentoring-disputes

CHANGES IN INTERNATIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION

SUPERVISION-Interest-Progress-Role conflict – researcher/papers /publication

STATISTICS ON PhD in UTM

LOW OUTPUT

0

50

100

150

200

250

UM USM UKM UPM UTM

14.6 21.2 19.3 18.4 26.418.3 14.9 17.5 21.7

27.623.1 17.7 14.7 21.423.118.2 21.1 13.3

21.619.814.6 21.2

19.318.4

26.417.4 18.2

22.621.1

20.723

23.317.3

31.26.221.2 17.8

22.4

28.410.223.7 22.6

18.2

20.5

15

OPPhd13

OPPhd12

OPPhd11

EnPhD13

EnPhD12

EnPhd11

INPhD13

INPhD12

INPhD11

ISSUES IN GRADUATE EDUCATION IN UTM

Graduate On Time (GOT)

ISSUES IN GRADUATE EDUCATION IN UTM

No Yes TotalInternational 20.3% 41.2% 61.5%

Local 21.2% 17.1% 38.3%

41.5% 58.5% 100%

GOT-MyRA2 42 months-Ministry of Education 48 months

Intake –International vs local

International Students Management • Malaysia has become popular education• The international students management is under International Student

Centre• the actual experience of international students may be difficult for

support staff, counsellors, advisers and academic staff to anticipate. • There is little information on the actual experience of students relative to

their expectations. • International students face many difficulties: Language, fee, feel in

isolation, safety, security, health services and accommodation • Mismatch between expectation and reality in social and academic • Adjustment issue: The climate for academic integrity is not strong – the

sending countries - Foreign student rule-breaking: culture clash or survival skills?

• Immigration support?

ISSUES IN GRADUATE EDUCATION IN UTM

QUALITY ISSUES

ISSUES IN GRADUATE EDUCATION IN UTM

Quality Program•All 129 graduate programs accredited by the MQA•UTM obtained Self-Accreditation from MQA

Quality Students•Intake Screening•Proposal Defense•Every semester Progress Report•Recorded meeting

Quality Supervisors•Continuous Monitoring through Graduate Student Management System•Students’ evaluation by Faculty Panels

INDUSTRIAL RELEVANCE

ISSUES IN GRADUATE EDUCATION IN UTM

EFFORT/INITIATIVES•Industrial + Academic Research•Label – eg. Engineering Doctorate•Mixed-mode•Part time•One of the supervisor from the industry

TARGET GROUP•Officers/Engineers•Senior •Any qualified person from any company (MOA and MoU with UTM)

INCENTIVES•MOA and MOU with the employers•Financial assistance from Ministry of Education•Potential of better career prospect in the company

ACHIEVEMENT•UTM has the highest number of PhD Industry in malaysia•Industrial-based PhD tailored to the students’ need.

STUDENTS & SUPERVISORS SUPPORT PROGRAM

ISSUES IN GRADUATE EDUCATION IN UTM

STUDENTS•2014, a total of 136 programs •Workshops, colloquium, seminars, summer camp and courses which related to research and generic skills acquisition. •Special fund to ensure the successfully organisation of the program. •The focus of the support programs is on introducing cutting edge research and publication skills. •Aspects of management such as time, project and risk are also introduced in the programs.

SUPERVISORS•Standards for the appointment of main supervisor for PhD Candidate•Training on supervision skills•Courses on rules and regulations•Refresher Courses

PUBLICATIONS

ISSUES IN GRADUATE EDUCATION IN UTM

Expectation •Graduate on time (GOT)•publish in scholarly high impact journal or at least present conference papers which will develop broader range of skills that will enhance their marketability. •Publication has been set as one of the pre-requisite for the thesis submission for the purpose of examination.

Result• More publications are generated and more Cumulative Impact Factor (CIF) is recorded. •In 2014, about 300 CIF come from articles and papers authored or co-authored by PhD candidates.

Reward : Publication incentive. This will encourage students to publish and at the same time contribute to the RU marks in maintaining its status.

Thank you