IN a recent article published in a local daily entitled “Towards world-class universities”, we seem to take pride with Universiti Malaya rated among the top 400 universities in the world in the Times Higher Education’s World Universities Ranking 2018 and stating that Utar is now in the 501-600 band.

In fact, Universiti Malaya was in the 351-400 band. I even wonder if this is something that we Malaysians should be proud of?

A closer look at the rankings, one finds that our neighbouring National University of Singapore was rated 22. Now that is something to be proud of!

Can Malaysian universities even make it into the top tier of world’s best universities? Yes, we can begin to at least dream but there is a lot of work to be done to even be able to have a sniff at that prized jewel.

First, universities need to be afforded the academic freedom to pursue a variety of interests. For this to happen we need the best brains to help steer academic excellence and the freedom to express and explore.

There is certainly a brain drain in Malaysia. Many of the best brains are working elsewhere and inspiring others to excel outside of Malaysia.

They don’t see themselves as being able to progress in their areas of expertise either because there is either no funding or because they know that the bureaucracy and restrictions in Malaysia will just lead them to frustration.

I have come across so many Malaysian students here at the University of Cambridge, UK and one question that I often ask is “Will you go back to Malaysia to work?”

More than 90% of them say that they will not be going back because there aren’t enough opportunities in Malaysia for them to pursue their academic interests and at the same time put food on the table.

These students, both undergraduate and postgraduate, are the crème de la crème of the “academic brain bank” of Malaysia but it is sad that they do not see a foreseeable future back home. We need to change brain drain to brain gain.

Second, there isn’t much funding for research and development in our academic institutions. For a university to be in the top tier, it cannot just be reproducing what others have already done but it should be a leader in a specific field and for other universities to want to stand up and take notice.

In an article entitled “What makes a global top 10 university?”, Sean Coughlan, a BBC News education correspondent states, it is “citations per faculty” – look at the strength of research in universities, calculated in terms of the number of times research work is cited by other researchers.

The top 10 universities in the Times Higher Education’s World Universities Ranking 2018 are universities deeply committed to research and development not only in the sciences but also in liberal arts.

Third, admission into universities must be based on merit and not quota – for students and academic staff.

If we want universities to perform well against other world top universities, we need the best students and academic staff lining up to march into our universities.

The best of our students must be financially supported and the best brains must be remunerated. If these systems aren’t in place, the brain drain will continue and our institutions will only be churning out mediocre graduates.

According to Phil Baty, the Times Higher Education rankings editor, “You need serious money, it is essential to pay the salaries to attract and retain the leading scholars and to build the facilities needed”.

In Budget 2017, there was a cut in allocation to public universities and this does not augur well if we want to be in the top tier.

Lastly, if we want our universities to be in the top tier, we also need systems that support this dream at the grassroots.

Our education system, especially in public schools, is in dire need of reform. These reforms must be initiated and carried out by educationists at heart and not politicians.

We have seen almost every education minister proposing blueprint after blueprint yet none has the will to see things through except for the purpose of political expediency.

In the words of Nelson Mandela, “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” and perhaps that is why they have not the will to effect change.

Until and unless we make these changes, we may just have to pat ourselves on the back and be satisfied with being among the top 500 universities in the world while the other universities in our region excel and the brain drain continues to run us dry. – September 22, 2017.

* Rev Dr Clarence Devadass is currently a visiting fellow at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, UK.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.