This' a bit long, but a rather interesting read indeed: From: http://blog.limkitsiang.com/?p=626 Freaky read isnt it?
even local colleges have the same dilemma I think.... been hearing complaints from my college-grad friend about crappy lecturers too
Hehe.. I used to have so much fun with such lecturers Reciting the University grevience procedures to them, and daring them to flunk me if they dare to
some lecturers.. wow.... in my college, there is a lecturer who is really good at linear algebra & different equations.. he can waste a lot of time there is once where he took 1 hour ticking class attendance.. he will ruin your confidence easily, have to fight back if you beleive you are right
unless u study urself and do a lot of research, else u'll only pass the exam base on the book....graduate with all the nonsense from the book
I guess what I find the most appalling in that letter was the complete lack of respect for Intellectual Property. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not supporting restrictive patents or anything here, but among academics, IP is something extremely sacred, and for the lecturer to submit the student's work and attempt to take credit for it is just a big no no in the academic world. My former University even had its Vice Chancellor sacked for improper referencing work for a paper that he had published like 20 years ago.
Oh man, the local universities should really start working harder and not becoming more complacent if they want to acheive world-class universities.
tat's why all the fresh grad now know nth when starting their new job, and some company hired them because they got the paper, not their skill or knowledge!
Well...speaking as a fellow UM graduate.. I'd say... stop complaining and start working for yourself. WTH.... since when do we all want to get spoon-feed??? So what if the lecturer is dumb? so what if their english is bad? so what if the use commercial books? SO what??? Just study yourself la! Since when the degree is a given thing? You have to @#$@# work yourself for it. As an UM graduate.. i see benefits of getting a degree from UM and not any other local (or even private colleges uni). Seriously... there is something to it, (not trying to sound racist here but just stating a matter of fact) being a chinese and getting out of UM. The only question is how are you making that fact work for you? Did you learn anything else other than just books in UM? IMHO, it's not books and knowledge that you learn in universities.. it's the experience... such experience like handling idiotic lecturers and perhaps also even fellow classmates. That's what you learn. If you want to just gain knowledge... uni isn't just the only place. Blah... do you see me regretting graduating from UM? No... proud. totally. benefitted... even financially? I would say yes. But is it from what i learn in lessons and books? Totally not the case. And with that I rest my case....
Well, that's one way of looking at it, but I think you're missing the main point here. Most of the people concerned about situations like this are thinking more of in the years ahead. Should the trends in such local education institutions are to continue on, would it be a place where you would want to send your children to?
seriously....most of the student just study wat is given by the lecturer only, or study hard hard folllow what is written in the book...as long as they can pass and get the degree, can already...coz they sure will get a job with that piece of paper... if u're company got a fresh grad, try ask them few common question in their job, see how they answer u... my point is...dun just study, while study, communicate more with outside world, gain more knowledge from outside, do more study other than wat's given by lecturer
To Ken, and everyone else: The problem here is that (as clearly seen in the fellow's email to Lim Kit Siang, which was posted on the blog) - is that students go into university expecting to be spoon fed. And then everyone just jump on the "UM is lousy bandwagon" just because someone did not get spoon fed and is unhappy with it, just because they get to whack UM, which has been getting quite a lot of flak lately. Whether it's UM, Monash, Harvard, Cambridge, etc - if the students cannot study independently and not just rely fully on the lecturer, they're screwed, end of story. The way I see it, it's not the uni in question here, being bad, but the entrenchment of the spoonfeeding system in our young students in primary/secondary school. But with all else, like IP protection, bureaucracy tends to get in the way, and there's too much politics and under-table activities involved. As for UM? They have their strengths and weaknesses. They're probably not the best there is in IT, but where medicine is concerned, they're still better than IMU even if people argue IMU is good. IMU students will lose out to UM students flat out, even in first year anatomy. P/S: In my very very honest opinion, I think that the guy who sent that email to Lim Kit Siang sounds like a sourgrape - kinda like poor worksman blaming his tools. Pushing the blame, I call it.
IMHO, no matter which university you're from, just prove that you are indeed worthy of your degree, coz there are some 1st class students out there who are nothing more than a bunch of 1st class copycats. best university or not, wherever you grad from, you always get a chance to prove yourself in work. Employers can tell who can only talk and who can do the walk. The degree can only help you as far as your first job, after that it's all about your experiences and what you have done so far. I'm not out of topic am I?
Good lecturer or U or college does not 100% really helps in which grade you got end of the day, they are mainly the guidelines only
I have to agree that our standards have dropped a LOT in recent years. The government seems more intent on producing MORE graduates than better graduates. And what happens when these "graduates" complain about their lack of employment? The government hurries to absorb them into the civil workforce. I would also agree with his observation that many lecturers are trained to be nothing more than mouthpieces for textbooks. How many of these lecturers and professors actually do any research work? How do they keep at the top of their game? Sadly, I do not believe anyone in the government is even keen about encouraging research and development in the universities. AFAICS, our universities are nothing more than factories churning out more and more graduates. What's worse - if this carries on, they could potentially turn into nothing more than glorified degree mills. It's already an undergoing process. My own medical college has recently been forced to "comply" with our national accreditation committee. NOT to improve the standard, but rather to reduce it so that they will be more comparable to local university standards.
IMHO.. the problem isn't really in at the uni system/level.. it's right down to the primary and secondary school level as djspinnet said. See how we are being taught at that level and it answers it all. All of us are conditioned to be spoon-fed.. If anything is to be done, work it on the primary and secondary level. By the time you reach uni level, if the mindset is still hoping for spoon-feeding, it's really too late already. Then again, even the parents these days makes it way too easy for their children. These Gen-y kids now expects a degree for granted. No local uni just means they get to go to colleges or private unis. They don't even try to get scholarships or getting their own educational loan. Cut them off from their parents and they just.... figuratively speaking 'die'. Now that's truly sad. For some of us, we didn't have any other choice other than fighting our way into local uni. So do or die, it's a fight and working hard to gain it... no spoon feeding immediately means working yourself and not complain.
Wooh, and to think this topic should come up on the day I get called up to be interviewed as part of my university getting audited by the Australian University Quality Agency's standard audit procedure.. Problem is, research isn't cheap, and resource allocation under NEP is hard too, because there are more pressing areas that need funding. And it's not easy to secure private funding or grants either. And then there's the big B problem - bureaucracy. I just found out some good news, LAN is loosening up on private unis now. As in - any foreign university with a campus in Malaysia is given full autonomy in regards to the university standards, syllabus, etc. Even international students are not forced to go through LAN subjects now. I just read a few interesting things inside my university's Quality Audit Portfolio regarding LAN, will dig up later to share with you guys on LAN's new stand.
Serious??? They just forced my college to go from an average pass rate of 40% to over 90%. I think that would be a good first step. Still, I think they should think about increasing the standard, repairing the damage they did.
Everything's spoon-fed from the very beginning, primary, secondary... how can they suddenly stand up and find their own food? They can't without proper guidance and not everyone can see the light at the end of the tunnel. If we go to uni for the experience and don't care about the low-grade lecturers, etc. Why not straightaway give us the book, let us study on our own, then we come back for exams, and give us the degree? Just give us the **** degree and industrial training then we can go off to the working world.But instead, they need you to attend stupid classes, waste your time listening to their readings and I had to wake up early everyday to attend those 8am classes. I still remembered we had to find out which are the good lecturers and try to get those classes. And they had to make it super tough for us and let those 'special' people get in. Attending the classes is one thing, having to deal with the lecturers is another. Some lecturers who don't even know much have to act smart and make your stay hard. And when they mark those papers... dang... those people who don't even study and surely fail their papers, we saw them pass. And one more thing... you have to pay to get your paper remarked. Even if you know you did better, most of us wouldn't waste time and money to do it coz most of the time, the result is the same or worse. In the end, you get demotivated, pressured and hope that those 3 years pass quickly so that you can get out of that hell. Until now, I don't miss my uni/lecturers/etc. I just missed the friends I made and the 'experience' I had with them. F**k the uni... I won't even send my children (if I'm lucky to have any... I'm still available *hint* *hint*) to those unis if I can afford it in years to come.
