EDUCATION Minister Maszlee Malik in an interview published by The Star Online on the possible merger of two east coast universities has made some serious allegations that are out of character with his background as a former academic. 

He first stated that UMT ranks “the second lowest as compared to other universities.” We have to ask him, what measure is being used here? Because according to multiple credible sources which present university rankings, that statement is demonstrably false. Further, the statement omits the fact that UMT became a public university merely 12 years ago. Of course, UMT’s rank is not as comfortable as say, UUM’s or even UKM’s, but to falsely claim that we rank at the bottom could mean that someone is being dishonest in their presentation of facts for a certain dogged agenda. 

Many other universities like UPSI or even USIM rank lower than UMT and if this is truly the case for merging universities all of a sudden, then why not begin with the lower-ranking universities? And why not merge a lower-ranking university with a higher-ranking one so that greater benefits can be reaped? 

Secondly, Maszlee stated that another reason for the merger is because both UniSZA and UMT share similar degree programs and courses. This is a futile point indeed because almost all universities everywhere share similar courses which are available in UniSZA or UMT, but it does not mean that they should merge.

Thirdly and this is the worst, he claimed that the maritime speciality in UMT has not even been focused on because UMT has been “preoccupied with other courses”. Coming from a minister whose office is to oversee higher education institutions, this statement is very uninformed and bizarre. For several years now, UMT has been very aggressive in efforts to distinguish itself as a marine/maritime university. 

The university has gained the status of Higher Institution’s Centre of Excellence which was nominated by the Ministry of Education itself as its centre for the maritime cluster. It is also recognised by professional bodies like the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in the field of maritime transport and logistics with the setting up of Malaysia’s first Centre for Maritime Logistics and Transportation. UMT successfully built a sailing centre and is diligently working on the construction of a teaching port and a national marine repository centre. 

Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) Unesco also nominated the university as a regional training centre for the Asia-Pacific region under the Ocean Teacher Global Academy. UMT’s marine data management systems in its INOS institute is recognised as the only associate data unit under the IODE which is nationally accredited. UMT will additionally be given the trust to manage the Malaysia National Oceanographic Data Centre by the Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change. 

Aside from having experts which advise many companies like Petronas, Schlumberger, Repsol, Aerospace Innovation Malaysia, Sime Darby, Exxon Mobil, Shell and many others, UMT has also cooperated with many universities across the region including the National Taiwan University, Incheon National University Korea, Shantou University, University Bung Hatta, Korea Marine Equipment Research Institute, Busan Technology Park, Samwoo Korea, Australian Maritime College and others. Clearly, the PR officer of the ministry has not been doing a very good job at drafting statements for the minister of education.

Fourthly, building upon his previous premise, Maszlee further mentioned that a merger will enable the two universities to become global reference points for both the “Islamic” and “maritime” niche. This is a strange supposition indeed. 

Firstly, one would think that helping each university build on its own niche and strengths as separate entities would serve the purpose better than diluting these distinguishing identities in the wake of a merger. There will definitely be forces within the newly merged university to wrestle opportunities and funds to focus on their own specialisations, thus causing a chaotic loss of identity. 

Secondly, on what basis is this claim being made? If merging will reinforce universities’ niches why are we not seeing this happen on a larger scale as a solution to strengthen specialisations? Such a sweeping statement flies over the heads of us academics as we are not able to understand the thought process that goes into that kind of decision-making. 

Fifthly, Maszlee tried to correct a reporter’s question and project his own narrative saying, “There is a protest. Not a lot of protests. Because there was a leak of information before it was duly announced.” The first part of this statement is already untrue and it would be better for him to consult various surveys that have been done in UMT which prove that the decision is widely unpopular, not only among the students, but also among staff members and academics. If the minister wishes to continue his earlier act of doing grassroots “turun padang” work then he is welcome in UMT to directly listen to the on the ground comments and the people, instead of making statements about UMT and UniSZA in another university half the country away. 

The second part of the statement is also false because the protests are not happening because of a supposedly untimely announcement. Even if the announcement happened as planned, you would be seeing the same reaction that is happening now. In other words, people on the ground here are also thinking individuals who are able to assess the situation on their own without the ministry feeding us its narrative.

Lastly on the point of employability of graduates, based on a survey of 2,640 graduates, UMT’s employability rate in 2017 increased from 93% to 96% for diploma students, and from 67% to 73% for degree students. The performance could definitely be better but it is definitely not the worst. Given all the points that have been rebutted above, it would be fair to say that this matter of contestation is not really relevant to the discussion at hand. 

Even if we allow the premise that UniSZA and UMT are doing badly, wouldn’t a merger make the situation worse since the two universities could potentially bring out the worst in each other? Shouldn’t the clever solution instead be to identify the weaker elements in each university and empower them with better initiatives? 

Let us be honest here, Maszlee has not done a good job at explaining what is really behind the curtain and the cop-out arguments that the ministry is publishing only prove that it is losing touch with the grassroots. The minister should do better. The ball is in his court.

*Saef Wan reads The Malaysian Insight.