FRAUD, LACK OF INTEGRITY, MERIT AND ACADEMIC FREEDOM IN THE MALAYSIAN HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM
Introductory Remarks
The author of this written work is writing this article based upon her personal experiences in the Malaysian private higher education system which she has personally experienced as being tainted with fraud, a severe case of lack of integrity, grave lack of merit and undoubtedly lacks academic freedom since many private Universities in Malaysia are politically affiliated and hence a student who desires to truthfully write about 'certain blatant truths' about legal and controversial matters in Malaysia is at grave risk of being penalized by the network and system in place.
Be Cautious About Pursuing Arts Courses in Malaysia
This piece of written work is aimed at being a caution to foreign and local students intending to pursue arts courses in Malaysia at local institutions of higher learning, particularly if the course of study has the potential to be controversial in nature such as courses in law, philosophy, journalism, sociology, religious studies, cultural studies etc.. These are predominantly courses where the subject matter is subjective in nature and hence where impropriety in grading is at higher risk of occurring when it is controversial in nature and is a true reflection of the 'state of affairs' in Malaysia.
Private Universities in Malaysia Being Politically Affiliated for the Purposes of Funding, Promotion of Courses and Receiving the Backing of Ministers, Politicians, the Judiciary, the Media
The author of this written work had the misfortune of having enrolled at a purportedly well reputed (this was a self-proclamation by that particular University) local private University when pursuing a Masters in Law course. The experiences of the author in that University are stated and chronicled in detail in an article which the author has written entitled 'The Profit Driven Motives Of The Private Higher Education Sector In Malaysia – A Case For Fraud, Lack Of Merit And Lack Of Integrity.' In this article, extracts from that article shall be included as these truths are stark, glaring and poignant and for the most part kept under wraps from disclosure at the risk of selective prosecution under laws deliberately interpreted to incarcerate and punish whistleblowers and those daring enough to disclose the unadulterated truth.
High Risk of Fraud In Courses of a Subjective Nature
If one desires to embark upon a course of study wherein the subject matter is of a subjective nature such as law, one would need to be especially cautious with regards to the choice of institution in Malaysia in which pursuit of such a course of study is contemplated. The reason is that it is these courses notably where the risk of assessment on a non-meritorious basis is highest as a result of the subjective nature wherein criteria of assessment may be vague, unreasonable, biased etc.. Hence, it is of paramount importance that clarification and confirmation be sought by the prospective student on the exact criteria of assessment and procedures in place pertaining to the same, prior to enrollment. It would be prudent at the stage of consultation with the counselors on the details of the programme of study to discreetly record the conversation in contemplation of a potential legal suit in the event that any kind of impropriety occurs during the duration of the course.
Awarding of Grades - A Non-Transparent Process and Procedure
Most private higher education institutions in Malaysia have a procedure wherein marking of exam scripts and assignments are done by internal examiners as well as external examiners. Notwithstanding this seemingly foolproof procedure where assurances are usually given by the institution of higher learning that there are several levels of assessment involved, in reality, this may prove to be a façadewherein the fact of these several levels of assessment is sought to be cited as evidence that grading is on the basis of merit when in fact discrimination against a student in the assessment process may still occur. This is because, the individual marks or grades awarded by the individual examiners are not usually revealed to the student. At times even at the request of the student, these marks are not shown or revealed. Further, the manner in which the final marks or grades are derived is also not revealed to the student but only the grades itself are shown. The fact of these non-transparent processes being in place in the first place is grounds for dubious contemplation of whether merit is indeed a criteria of assessment at all.
Incompetent Students Allowed to Enroll
The degree of vanity of private institutions of higher learning in Malaysia is blatant and cannot be ignored – many of these types of institutions are obsessed with securing greater enrollment for educational programmes that may prove to be of too tough for the average Malaysian or foreign student wherein the standard of English of these students itself, without anything further would prove to be severely lacking. Hence, without a basic sound command of the English language, one wonders as to the criteria of admission of such students into a course of study in the first place. Yet, these private higher educational institutions in Malaysia nevertheless would shamelessly and inappropriately bend the rules to allow the admission of incompetent students into a course of study wherein they would inevitably struggle to grapple with the difficulty of mastering the subject matter primarily as a result of language incompetency. This is not only doing a disservice to these students but also tantamount to fraud by the institution wherein it does not hesitate to lower the criteria of admission to a course of study in order to facilitate its profit driven motives.
Group Moderation of Grading Practices
If at the inception, an incompetent student is admitted into a course of study at a private institution of higher learning in Malaysia, it would not stretch one's imagination to contend that the grading process would naturally be affected and tampered with lest the student fail if honestly assessed on merit. Further, there is evidence to suggest that there is a fraudulent practice of 'group moderation of grading' perpetrated by certain private institutions of higher learning in Malaysia wherein grades are moderated so as to reduce the glaring evident disparity between competent and incompetent students. This is the reason that the assessment process is non-transparent – to facilitate the inappropriate adjustment of grades resulting in bias and unfairness to competent students. At times, it is paradoxical to note that weaker students are seen to be performing at a better level as compared to better performing students and at other times, all students seem to be performing at almost the same level although having vastly different levels of competency between them but yet all this is concealed very well in a non-meritorious system of grading and hence, tantamount to fraudulent practice by some of these private institutions of higher learning in Malaysia.
Facilitation of Profit Driven Motives
In order to facilitate profit driven motives, many gimmicks and inducements are utilized to induce students to join courses of study at private institutions in Malaysia. Some of these tactics are shameful and tantamount to defiling the sanctity of the pursuit of education itself wherein these institutions 'sell education as if selling fish in a fish market.' There is no dignity in the process of promoting courses of study – the inducements are sometimes shocking to note wherein gadgets such as mobile phones and laptops are given away as complimentary perks for those signing up early for courses of study (commonly referred to as 'early bird' discounts or privileges) and these are advertised openly. One wonders as to the reason that regulating bodies do not intervene to prevent this sort of 'cheap gimmicks and inducements' that seem to give Malaysia a bad reputation for 'undignified and unprofessional' conduct in the promotion of education. These days, it is apparent that the standard of education in Malaysia has declined so appallingly to a level where education is 'sold like a commercial product' – a mere rite of passage in the sense of a paper qualification towards other pursuits namely the securing of better employment prospects, admission to higher courses of study etc. at the expense of quality. Under these circumstances, true merit in obtaining the same is a matter of dubious concern and this is reflected in complaints by employers in the private sector wherein they have commented on the extremely poor command of the English Language, lack of quality of candidates applying for jobs etc.. At this rate, it is no wonder that qualifications obtained in Malaysia are to a large extent not recognized abroad and this is an injustice to students who may be deemed competent as these students are predominantly unfairly affected by the non-meritorious system of assessment in these private institutions of higher learning in Malaysia.
Student's Written Paper – Intellectual Property of a Student
The author of this article maintains that a student's written paper is in actual fact the intellectual property of a student and thus, an institution of higher learning cannot retain the original marked paper and simply allow the student to sight the final grades without allowing the student access to the manner in which those grades were obtained. There would always be room for suspicion under such circumstances especially when an institution of higher learning has the appearance of political affiliation with the media etc. which would effectively prevent all these sinister and shameful practices from being exposed. There is a greater peril at stake when the clout or force supporting these types of institutions will ensure defeat in any legal suit instituted against such vile institutions of higher learning to expose these corrupt practices.
Misogynistic and Chauvinistic Sentiments and Undertones in Certain Private Universities in Malaysia
Any female student contemplating enrolling in any private institution of higher learning in Malaysia is to be forewarned of misogynistic and chauvinistic sentiments and undertones of certain private universities in Malaysia. This is a reality even in the modern day as many men continue to feel the threat of female dominance and prevalence in the workforce. Many educated professional men in their capacities as Deans, lecturers, supervisors etc. use overt and subtle ways to thwart the progress of female students especially when they pursue higher qualifications such as Masters and Doctorate degrees. Although Malaysia has acceded to The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), it does not seem serious in ensuring that the tenets of this Convention is adhered to. This has been observed by the author of this article after she had been discriminated against in two separate courses of higher learning when pursuing the Masters in Law programme in two separate private institutions operating in Malaysia. In one incident, she had evidence that her grades had been tampered with (in an unfair manner resulting in lower grades awarded with the breakdown of grades deliberately withheld from being sighted) whilst the grades of poorer performing male fellow classmates had been enhanced under very dubious circumstances (she was aware of their performance levels or rather the lack thereof) and in the other incident, she had been discriminated against and punished with a forcible exit for performing better than her male classmates and when she had questioned a male lecturer (a foreign Caucasian lecturer) about the justification for poor grades awarded, she was deliberately failed for English language to facilitate her exit from the course. This latter incident involved a foreign University operating in Malaysia via an online portal for distance learning programmes. Her complaints to NGOs, the institutions responsible for violations of the CEDAW and the Ministry of Education had fallen upon deaf ears and she did not receive any compensation whatsoever for her grievances and financial losses sustained as a result of these fraudulent acts perpetrated by these fraudulent, vicious and avaricious institutions of higher learning. The judicial system in Malaysia cannot be entrusted with the protection of a citizen's rights due to the political affiliation and the links of certain Universities in Malaysia to them. With regards to the violation by the foreign University operating in Malaysia, the author had questioned the Ministry of Education of Malaysia about endorsing a third rate foreign university (above 60th place in the university rankings of that Western nation) to operate here and yet she received no response and has cogent grounds to believe that some kind of improper inducement is being paid to Malaysia to operate here.
Beware of Institutions of Higher Learning Involved in Excessive Public Relations Activities
Foreigners and locals who are contemplating pursuing higher studies in Malaysian private institutions of higher learning are cautioned to avoid Universities and Colleges which charge exorbitant tuition fees for low quality of local education, are involved in excessive public relations activities of the nature of constantly praising themselves sky high for achievements of its students, do not have foreign accreditation and approval on meritorious criteria, are always seen to be garnering solely local awards for achievement, have hostel facilities and recreation to the degree of luxury, are seen to be closely affiliated with the media, judiciary, political causes, promoting a single religion's cause excessively to the exclusion of all other religions, is focused upon the promotion of a single race of people or showing sympathies towards them, discriminating in favour of them, aggressively pursuing payment of fees well before due timelines, seen to admit for enrollment foreign students who are conspicuously lacking in basic English language skills but who nevertheless are wealthy, allow their premises to be utilized for promotion of non-academic causes, have a high enrollment of Western academicians whose salaries are grossly inflated as compared to those of equally qualified and competent locals, discriminate against certain classes of foreign academicians whilst seen to be pandering to the egos of other foreign academicians, use certain classes of foreign lecturers (excluding locals) to market and promote their programmes i.e. akin to pimping them to attract local and foreign students alike, allow well connected and high profile students to influence educators and discriminate in favour of them, employ administrative personnel who are seen to be lacking in language proficiency skills.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
For all the above stated reasons and the personal experiences of the author of this article in the Malaysian private higher education system, local people and foreigners are cautioned about pursuing courses of study in Malaysia at the higher education level. Whilst the relatively low cost may be an incentive, one must be wary of the compromised state of education not being on meritorious grounds and the fact that qualifications obtained from institutions of education operating in Malaysia may not be recognized internationally. There are rampant incidences of fraud in the Malaysian education system that some local people and foreigners may be a victim of. Certainly, Malaysia is not internationally known for its standard of education i.e. it is of very low standard and qualifications obtained here are detrimental to persons of true caliber who may not be taken seriously elsewhere in the world when applying for jobs in foreign countries, Developed nations etc..
In any case, one must have a conscience about studying in a country that flouts humanitarian laws without batting an eye. The plight of minority race citizens in this country is well chronicled and detailed in the author's article entitled 'The Suffering Of Minority Races in Majority Societies' and is worth reading as it is a blatant and truthful account of some 'ugly realities' that are well hidden from exposure and disclosure.
The author concludes this piece of written work with a poignant poem reflecting the plight of the minority, unprotected class in Malaysia:
SONG OF REBELLION
O thou, passionate rebel heart,
Driven by the spirit of the consummate upstart,
To fight the sinister injustice of your circumstance,
To be released from your torment, you seek the chance.
Upon your Oppressors, you wish to cast notoriety,
Which you insightfully perceive as a form of negative celebrity,
In your rebel cause you strive to achieve,
A resolute end to all struggle and grief.
You are determined to pave the way,
The Oppressor's policies to hastily fade away,
You pursue your cause with careful scrutiny,
As in the interim, you refrain from provoking undesired celebrity.
A careful plan you have intricately hatched,
From bits of information that you have meticulously matched,
A scheme to garner world attention,
To release your people from suppression and persecution.
This is in essence my song of rebellion,
For which I do not desire any award or medallion,
Simply to release the Oppressor's shackles that brutally bind,
A noble cause, a new vision my people will now be free to find.
By
Sumitra Woodhull
(Extract taken from 'A Poetic Sojourn Into Life's Chronicles' – Part Three by Sumitra Woodhull)
This volume of poems is available for purchase on Amazon.com
Source : articlesbase.com
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