Key to Global Competitiveness

UM drops from top 200 list of world ranking

Why is it that when UM drops out of its ranking in the top 200 Universities in the world, all that our minister of higher education can say is "we are not going to be obsessive about the benchmark. We cannot compare apples with oranges because each university have different environment and conditions."?

It is like saying to my son, if he ends up at the bottom of the class, "It's ok, son, I am not obsessive about the ranking as I cannot compare you with your friends".

The QS World University Rankings measure university research quality, graduate employability, teaching commitment and international commitment. So if these are not globally accepted criteria to rank universities, I am not sure what Malaysian universities quality criteria is based on.

Instead of working to find out what is wrong and how to improve the ranking by providing active solutions, we say it's okay, it is normal to see fluctuations.

If we hope to be competitive in an increasingly global economy, then parents like us must not think like our minister. If we keep living bagai katak di bawah tempurung, very soon the emerging economies around us whom we now consider behind us in development, will be the rising giants in future.

The key to global competitiveness is education for our future generation. Fellow parents, prepare if you can, to send your children to more competitive institutions, with better "environment" and "conditions".