THE Covid-19 pandemic precipitated a huge national crisis that all but brought our education system, including our universities, to its knees. This crisis was not caused by the Covid-19 virus. But the virus certainly exposed hitherto existing severe fault lines and vulnerabilities of a broken public university system that most if not all decisions and actions by the Higher Education Ministry (MOHE) and by university management did little to address or alleviate the crisis.

 Decisions were ad-hoc, confused and inconsistent, often without any considered rationale. Classes were suspended, re-started and suspended again. Teaching was disrupted and put online. But lecturers were surprisingly unprepared for online teaching.

 Online facilities were sub-standard and did not meet the technical requirements of delivering regular quality lessons. Not all students, and especially those living in rural areas, had access to seamless internet connectivity.

And yet, students were forced to follow online classes with little access to online library resources. Students were often left bewildered and treated like footballs.

 Despite this, they were required to pay full fees at a time when their studies were being severely disrupted.

 Only in July 2021 – a full 16 months since the start of the movement-control order (MCO) in March 2020 – did MOHE decide to reduce university fees by about 35%.

Unsurprisingly, students have been under severe stress. Two UiTM students resorted to suicide when they were unable to balance their workload demands with the severe and prolonged mental stress of isolation and loneliness. This tragedy only exposed the serious shortcomings of MOHE and university authorities.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) does not think that this pandemic is going to end soon. Consequently, there is a serious need for MOHE to come up with viable during-pandemic and post-pandemic plans to re-start classes and instruction to ensure that our university students receive the education they deserve and which our nation needs.

The Challenge

Although a major crisis, this Covid-19 pandemic presents Malaysia and its government with an opportunity to reform our clearly out-of-touch university system that has long been accused of not meeting the needs of both industry and society.

Instead, it has been said that university education is currently largely designed to meet political agendas and the questionable requirements of the Malaysian Qualifications Agency and National Higher Education Fund Corporation on the one hand, and, on the other, the various equally questionable university and publication ranking systems forced upon academics to ensure “quality”.

The end goal

GERAK desires a progressive university education system that meets the core needs of society and individuals in the 21st Century by improving the capacity of public universities and other tertiary institutions to produce quality graduates of all disciplines having cognitive abilities, creative talents, vocational skills and social awareness.

Our proposal is divided into two parts, namely one that is long-term and another that requires immediate action.

Here we focus on the latter. Our longer, long-term proposals are discussed in a separate statement.

Short-term measures proposed by GERAK

The core business of most public universities is that of instructing undergraduates and graduates, undertaking research and producing publications. Thus, the first order of business is the structuring of health and safety measures that would allow all students and staff to return to campuses and to resume their studies, and to live safely and with as little mental stress as possible while doing so.

To this end, the MOHE needs to ensure that all universities undertake the following basic minimum measures before announcing dates of resumption of classes:

a)     Provide full publicly-funded vaccination of all academic, administrative and support staff in campus

b)    Provide full publicly-funded vaccination of all registered university/tertiary-level students

c)     Set up active and efficient Covid-19 Test and Trace systems in all campuses

d)    Provide proper and efficient ICT support for students and staff. This would include hardware, software, and internet support

e)     Prepare SOP for in-class lectures/tutorials, library, study rooms, hostel life, food courts, sports facilities, and other campus activities

f)     Provide the option for students to defer a semester/year

g)    Allow a choice of both in-class and virtual attendance at lectures/tutorials

h)    Set up a lecture and resource database via university server or cloud services that allows students to access lectures, assignments and learning resources at their convenience

i)      Prepare SOPs for revised methods of assessment to replace in-person exams

j)      Set up in-campus quarantine hostels for students to allow them to follow classes using university facilities in case they contract Covid-19

k)    Provide competent and accessible mental health services for students and staff via in-campus and online consultations

l)      Set up a Covid-19 fund to assist students and staff with Covid-related emergencies

m)   Prepare transparent disclosure and mitigation measures of Covid cases on campus

In addition, and specifically for private sector universities and university colleges, MOHE, at a minimum, needs to undertake the following:

 a)     Provide already registered students from the M40 and B40 economic cohorts with a tuition fee subsidy until they complete their studies

b)    Grant income tax exemption for private colleges engaged in genuine educational efforts (not the political crony fly-by-night institutions) and link those tax exemptions to the number of merit-based scholarships granted to registered students

c)     Impose a ceiling cap on tuition fees for all courses in private sector universities and university colleges for the next three years

d)    Grant income tax incentives to all private sector universities and university colleges to upgrade their educational technology and staff wages and welfare

e)     Facilitate fee waivers and seamless visa applications for all foreign students desirous of studying in Malaysia

f)     Transfer students from dubious private higher education institutions to public vocational colleges.

– August 31, 2021.

* PerGerakan Tenaga Akademik Malaysia is an association of Malaysian academics committed to educational reform.

* 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.