KUALA LUMPUR – The Higher Education Ministry (MoHE) must ensure that every education institution, whether public or private, subscribes to and meets global standards, with course contents not watered down.
Former international trade minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz said any aberration will result in wasted time and effort on the part of students whose qualifications are not recognised.
“The nation will lose out as the supply of human resources graduating from education institutions will not match the type and quality of market demand.”
She was commenting on news that 500 students from Limkokwing University of Creative Technology are in a bind after the Malaysian Qualifications Agency revoked accreditation for eight courses.
The affected programmes are MBA in Project Management, Master of Science in Software Engineering, Master of Communications, MBA in Sports Management, MBA in Human Resources Management, MBA in Finance and Banking, MBA in Communication and Public Relations, and PhD in Management.
The list does not include programmes whose accreditation was previously revoked – and remain so – including Bachelor of Cloud Computing Technology.
It is imperative that MoHE undertakes a proper evaluation of each and every entity in the education system, whether public or private, and ensures that the appropriate follow-up action is taken.”
On the fate of students whose programmes have had their accreditation pulled, Rafidah said it is alarming and a great setback.
“What’s worse is when the accreditation of courses, certificates, diplomas or degrees is revoked, and therefore, they are not recognised.
“I looked up the statistics and found this information with regard to higher education institutions in Malaysia. There are 20 public universities, 47 private universities, 34 university colleges, 414 private colleges, and 10 foreign university branch campuses.
There seems to be an unusually large number of approvals given to private universities, but the more important question is, how is the curricula for all these universities vetted, and by whom?
“How are the graduates benchmarked so that higher education institutions are able to produce market-relevant graduates, and what criteria are used to give the relevant courses accreditation?” said Rafidah, who herself feels that private institutions are business entities.
“But, ethical business dictates that every course offered and taught must have integrity, and the same applies to every certificate, diploma and degree conferred.” – The Vibes, July 5, 2021
