A search on google.com for ‘apex university’ produces 6 hits to Malaysia-linked websites on page 1. A brief browse of the next few pages reveal that the idea of apex universities, while not new… is not a well-used one. Most of the hits where the word ‘apex’ were linked to a university, merely represent the location of the university, an acronym of some sort, or the name of a sports team within the university. It is very obvious that the government’s sudden announcent of apex universities represent an attempt to increase the reputation of education in Malaysia much more than it is worth. Whether or not they are trying to create a local version of the ivy-league, oxbridge, redbrick or russel group is arguable. However, it is undeniable that none of our local universities qualify to compare with these highly-esteemed institutions. Our universities aren’t even fit to squat under their shadows.

The intentions of the government is unclear on the goal of apex universities and how they are going to accomplish it. If it is merely a measure of extra support, extra funding, and recognition – then all is fair. If it is meant as a pretence to compete with the creme de la creme of universities worldwide, then this whole charade is a farce. There may be some positive gain from it. It will encourage private universities to be more competitive in the race to become an apex university. This is probably a good thing for their students. If it means more funding and more support from the government, then obviously the students will stand to gain from it as well.

In the bigger picture, will it really benefit the fledging tertiary education industry of this country? Will our public universities compete in the same way the private ones will? Apart from the first five universities, the rest of the industry is barely 20 years old. ALL of the universities need support, funding and recognition. Giving a certain university more funding than another would be unfair to the rest. If anything, the weaker universities would need more support than the stronger ones. Is putting these young universities in a race for a meaningless title and pitting them against each other beneficial for the students? Now is not the time for our universities to go dog-eat-dog. Universities should be sharing resources and helping each other to improve.

I wrote in an earlier post about the ‘full circle‘ comment. In it, I mentioned that the majority of international students studying in Malaysia aren’t here to get a local degree. Most of them leave with degrees which contain the name of an overseas institution, most often of an Australian, American, or British University. See where I’m heading?

For our universities to be recognised as ‘good’ worldwide, it is not among the local universities that they must compete with. It is with every accredited university on this planet. So what if we have an apex university if its ranking worldwide is 1000th? The Acamedic Ranking of World Universities for 2007, doesn’t rank a single Malaysian University in the top 500. Neither does The QS World University Rankings by The Times. Not a single one of our universities are close to being competitive internationally.

Is there any reason to wonder at all why the undergraduates who can afford it get overseas degrees? Any reason to wonder why so many of our private colleges/universities offer twinning programmes, under which the student will end up with an overseas degree even if they study locally? As long as these private universities are awarding degrees not of their own name, they cannot achieve worldwide ranking because they do not get full credit for the quality of their degrees. And as long as the public universities don’t buck up to raise their standards instead of their intake, we will come NOWHERE close to competing on a world stage.

Where’s the apex? Are we reaching for the peak of Mount Everest? Swimming into the Marianna Trench? No we are not, we will be left flaundering at the base of the mountain (which we reached via helicopter) yet again. Victims of a government who have many ideas, none of which work. The government needs to increase support for education in this country, not to turn the whole idea of good quality tertiary education here into a comedy caper. Dearie me…. is this where I end the post with my signature phrase again? What you think is best for us, may not necessarily be good for us.