University Ranking 2005

There is a concern going on about the drop in ranking for Malaysian universities as indicated in the latest Times Higher Education Supplement 2005. University Malaya dropped drastically from 89 in the 2004 ranking to 169 in the latest 2005 ranking. Latest politician to voice this concern was Lim Kit Siang, and our Prime Minister also had mentioned about this the day before. Interestingly amongst the Asian universities, UM is way down as shown below. Other Malaysian universities could not even get to the top 200.

1. Beijing University (China) - 15
2. Tokyo University (Japan) - 16
3. National University of Singapore - 22
4. Kyoto University (Japan) - 31
5. Hong Kong University - 41
6. Hong Kong University Sci & Technol - 43
7. Nanyang Tech University (Spore) - 48
8. Indian Institutes of Technology - 50
9. Chinese University of Hong Kong - 51
10. Tsing Hua University (China) - 62
11. Indian Institutes of Management - 84
12. China University of Sci & Tech - 93
13. Seoul National University - 93
14. Tokyo Institute of Technology - 99
15. Osaka University - 105
16. National Taiwan University - 114
17. Chulalongkorn University (Thailand) - 121
18. Nagoya University (Japan) - 129
19. Tohoku University (Japan) - 136
20. Korea Adv. Inst of Sci and Tech - 143
21. Hiroshima University (Japan) - 147
22. Nanjing University (China) - 150
23. Hokkaido University (Japan) - 157
24. Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China) 169
25. Malaya University - 169
26. City University of Hong Kong - 178
27. Korea University - 184
28. Jawaharlal Nehru University - 192
29. Showa University (Japan) - 198

The rankings are based on many criteria and the most glaring one is the Peer Review Score which is 40% of the overall score. UM got 33% out of 100% on that, which means that UM failed in the Peer Review evaluation.

That suggests that UM's academic is falling short of the desired quality that is expected . The lack of quality publication and research would be the case here. Peer review is about other academics evaluation of UM academics in the international scene. So even amongst the Asian academics, let alone the top 10 universities in US and UK, the other Asian academics don't think much of UM's academics.

Quoted from the article:
"The rankings use the results of a survey of 2,375 academics from across the world. These are combined with a series of measures including the number of times that research papers are cited by academics, staff-to-student ratios and number of students and staff from overseas.

This year's analysis includes for the first time a measure based on the views of international employers on which universities they prefer to recruit from."

The last statement above indicated that our graduates are not attractive enough for the global market. That itself is a loaded suggestion / question, which needs deep analysis, such as, what quality is required to enter the global market?

In UM, the usual thing is to wait for the Vice Chancellor to say something, but there should be a "bottom up" reaction to the problem first, feeding the VC with what is believed to be lacking and then the "top bottom" approach can be taken. That is if we want to be proactive about these things.

During our discussions in faculty meetings, we talk a lot. I mean there is so much banter going about on how to be better and so on, and we must compete with NUS and so on, but the action is only in rhetorics. There was no concrete follow through. There was no taking up of ideas to the next level, and there was no concerted effort to address the issues in terms of real targets that the academics can managed. We could dredge up many problems surrounding this issue, if we start looking in detail.
So, when shall we start to really look at this problem?

Blogger's Business

I wrote this comment in Peter's blog...Again! Yes, just want to put my 'two cents worth' of lecturing input there! Anyway, I thought that I could put an argument about the accountability that bloggers have to make when they post something sensitive, especially those famous bloggers with hundreds of hits a day. So this is my first part of the argument which relates to Peter's post 'An Apology', in his weblog. (Refer to www.petertan.com)

Of Brand XX, sponsorship and charity.

What business are you in? If you are in the business of blogging, do you think that you can say anything, and not get commented upon. Or even complained about?

If you are a blogger and you seek for charitable funds only, then you are similar to a charity organisation. If you are a blogger, and you seek for personal sponsorship and you developed a brand, ie your style of writing, your fan base, your advertisement, your PayPal banner so that people can give money to you, etc, and your blog makes a compulsive read and which gives you rewards for your personal needs and income, say, you are similar to many business and corporations out there. Hence, Xiaxue's blog which overtly advertises itself and get sponsorship deals, and have so many hundreds of readers is - a business / corporation ,isn't it?

It is very simple.

Because the business is disabled friendly, meaning the writing has been putting down disabled people's rights, for example, "So tell me, our government spent millions of taxpayers money to build so many facilities for the physically disabled, and only they are allowed to use it?" (Xiaxue, Oct. 16) hence the business gotta be accountable for its action. Don't you think?

This is nothing new. Businesses get hit back a lot of times, because they are not disabled friendly or there is a cause to complain. We complained once in writing and in the media about an airline that took an hour for a friend of mine to disembark via his wheelchair as they did not do their business properly, and they were not courteous. I wrote to a shopping complex before about letting non disabled people park at designated car parks for the disabled, and I will not hesitate to cc to the Ministry of Local Government to put things right or to write to the media and make the business more accountable.

You know why I do this? Because there is no Disability Discrimination Bill in Malaysia (and if you want to know, neither is there a discrimination bill in most Asian countries including Singapore). If there was a bill as such, all I need to do is just complain to a Commission and they will act upon it, like in the UK, and get compensation. No need all these cc and writing to media stuff. Some other party will do the job for you. No need to get people to put you down in a blog like this. No headache!

But as it is in Asia, we have just got to grit our teeth and fight for our rights the best way we can, and complaining it is!

Do I want to be a pushover and let people walk over me and not get my rights heard? Of course not, and so do you. You may be a parent with small children, and elderly person, or someone who just got discriminated upon. So what do you do? Just lie down low and get stepped on?

Let's face it - businesses can get away with anything. Including the business of blogging. It's part and parcel of the 21st Century issues, but we know businesses are run by people. And people need to be accountable for their actions.

We are no pushover

I have been quite busy nowadays but there is an issue that came up in Peter Tan's blog that I need to mention here. Peter actually wrote a post where he was appalled that a blogger had been insensitive to disabled people's issues and informed the blogger's sponsors of what she had done wrong, ie criticising and putting down disabled people's rights (which you can read via Peter's blog). So a lot of people left comments criticising Peter's action, which I think is not right as people think that disabled people such as Peter is manipulating 'our disability' to get at other people. The issue is not that simple. Hence I had placed my comment which I am pasting here:

Peter Tan was correct to fight back. I am backing what Peter did. I would have done the same. The reason being, people like Xiaxue thinks that she can say what she likes, which can undermine all the efforts of what people were trying to do, which is to fight for the Rights of Disabled People.

Yes, it did not happened overnight. Disabled people along with able-bodied people had been working alongside each other to produce guidelines on how to make the built environment more accessible. Usually it is done outside their working hours, where they worked voluntarily and sacrificing precious time away from family.

In Singapore where Xiaxue comes from, I know personally the individuals from the Singapore Handicapped Association who worked with the Singapore Government, such as the HDB, and the Public Works Department during the evening and weekends, sacrificing their spare time and their family time so as to get the guidelines for disabled toilets and other facilities on board for disabled people to use. They spent for years scouting the Orchard Road area, shopping complexes, government buildings etc making access surveys and giving free consultations to the officers in Government.

What happens in Singapore is made an example in Malaysia and other Asian and Pacific countries when in the 90s, UNESCAP adopted the Singapore guidelines and trained people from all over Asia to fight for the rights of disabled people. Although this is about Accessibility, it touches and effect many other issues relating to disability.

Many of us in this forum may not know that there are kids out there who are disabled that did not get further in life because the environment is disabling, for example, I know of people who stopped schooling just because after 12 years old their parents cannot carry them up the flight of stairs anymore, thus affecting their life’s chances. So many issues, that need to be at the forefront but we can only managed to highlight about Accessibility, which when looking at how developed countries had done it, were the first issues to be highlighted. We in Asia have still a very long way to go.

People need to understand that eventually they will all be handicapped in a way, as they grow older, and their hips and knees start to become arthritic and other ailments come. How to enjoy life when we are older? We see more and more elderly people going out around Orchard Road and other Singapore city spots. There are accessible toilets, so that wheelchairs can fit, lifts, brailled and tactile surfaces, places to sit, and so on, to make life a bit more bearable and enjoyable. For people who has spinal injuries, the time taken to wait for a disabled toilet, may result in him/her getting urinary tract infection, and making a setback to his/her condition, hence the need for people to be sensitive to not use disabled toilets.

If things are not accessible and disabled toilets are not available, how do people get to do what others can easily do?

Why criticise and deny disabled people their rights to living as you do?

So Brand Names like Xiaxue or whatever it may be (such as any other famous bloggers or personalities) or companies or whatever business out there, please be ready when you start critising and putting down disabled people and their rights. We will fight back. We are no pushovers! We know our rights and that is our privilege as human beings!

Pride and Prejudice

A couple of nights ago, I went to see the film, "Pride and Prejudice", based on a Jane Austen novel, capturing the fictional life of Elizabeth Bennet, her sisters and their parents during the Regency period of the Georgian era (late 18th and early 19th century).

Some things were of interest to me, namely;
How Dame Judi Dench and Brenda Blethyn tried to out-do each other with very high quality acting; How this was rubbed off and on to the younger actors like Keira Knightley and the guy who played Mr Darcy; How detailed and exquisite the film sets were in portraying Georgian England; How delicious it felt as the camera picked out the details of that era...etc

I was completely satiated in terms of the performances of the veterans, including Donald Sutherland, and adequately satisfied with the younger performers, but the set and cinematography, that was brilliant!

I wanted to go to Chatsworth, and in the film I was transported there! (That was Darcy's country house in Derbyshire, with the deer park!) And the script was funny! (in a good way)...I was laughing out loud throughout the film. I must admit that I have not read Jane Austen's novels, but now I think I will go and get the whole collection.

All in all, the film is an excellent "social commentary" on life during that period and I learned a lot from that. (It made sense now what Prof. Curl taught me during Architectural History class...) I am looking forward to indulge in "Oliver Twist" next, where I will be transported to the Victorian era, in industrial and congested London. Can't wait!

(Image taken from: http://www.chatsworth-house.co.uk/)

Malaysian Accessibility Issues

I would like to highlight an article that was published in a Malaysian newspaper recently, whereby the Minister for the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development made a statement criticising authorities in local government about the lack of commitment in providing accessible facilities for disabled people and elderly people.

There are a few things mentioned by the Minister. The statistics for elderly people was stated, but not for disabled people. We know that we do not have the correct statistics for disabled people done in the last census of 2000, because the census-taker did not ask about whether there is a disabled person in the household, as pointed out by many people. They could not use the Welfare Department's registration count as it only comes to less than 1% and United Nation's estimates are from 6-10%. So it seems that we will always be stuck when it comes to talking about statistics. Statistics is used to back-up arguments for funding and investment, so we will lose on that issue. The question is, are there any other way to get the right statistics in the near future or do we have to wait for the next census in 2010?

On this piece of news alone, part of the strategy is to go along with the needs of elderly people as part of the needs of disabled people. We cannot leave out elderly people's needs or to be exact, we must mention elderly people in the same breath as disabled people when we advocate about accessibility needs.

I have a feeling that because of statistical reasons, we have been stuck on developing and planning for disabled people in Malaysia, and that is also the reason for the Disabled Person's Act being stuck in Parliament. What do you think?

If you can read in Malay, the article is shown below :

Shahrizat bidas PBT ketepi OKU, warga emas

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil membidas sikap pihak berkuasa tempatan (PBT) kerana tidak komited dalam menyediakan kemudahan prasarana untuk warga emas dan Orang Kurang Upaya (OKU).

Malah, Menteri Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyarakat itu turut meluahkan rasa tidak puas hati dengan tindakan PBT yang hanya mengutamakan kemudahan untuk golongan sihat dan muda.

Beliau berkata, PBT seharusnya menjalankan tugas tanpa mengetepikan kepentingan warga emas yang jumlahnya dijangka meningkat kepada 3.2 juta pada 2020, berbanding 1.66 juta sekarang.

PBT serta Jabatan Perancang Bandar dan Desa perlu merangka pembangunan dengan menyediakan kemudahan yang mesra warga tua dan OKU yang sememangnya banyak disediakan di negara maju dunia.

Sektor swasta juga wajar bekerjasama dalam hal ini dan tidak hanya menyerahkan tanggungjawab untuk mewujudkan prasarana kepada warga emas dan OKU kepada kerajaan semata-mata.

Dalam hal ini, PBT perlu memastikan setiap projek pembangunan yang dilaksanakan swasta terutama di bandar mengambil kira kepentingan warga tua termasuk kemudahan lif, tangga, landasan pejalan kaki dan tandas,

katanya selepas melawat Pusat Jagaan Harian Warga Tua Kampung Cheras Baru dekat sini, semalam.

Turut hadir timbalannya, Datuk G Palanivel, Setiausaha Parlimen; Chew Mei Fun dan Ketua Pengarah Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat, Datuk Shamsiah Abdul Rahman.

Shahrizat berkata, sektor swasta juga diharap dapat menyumbang dengan membina lebih banyak pusat jagaan harian atau perumahan khusus untuk kedua-dua kumpulan sasar itu

Kita memohon untuk mendapatkan peruntukan tambahan bagi menambah bilangan pusat jagaan harian dalam komuniti pada Rancangan Malaysia Kesembilan (RMK-9).

Kenaikan elaun kepada warga emas juga dikemukakan. Ketika ini 23,500 menerima peruntukan elaun RM28 juta,

katanya.

Selain itu, katanya, pihaknya sedang menjalankan kajian semula Dasar Warga Emas Negara dan Pelan Tindakan Warga Emas bagi memastikan ia relevan dengan keperluan dan cabaran semasa.

Warga emas ditetapkan bagi individu berusia 60 tahun ke atas, bagaimanapun ketika ini pada usia 50 tahun didapati kebanyakan individu masih sihat dan mampu menyumbang khidmat kepada negara,

katanya.

Berikutan itu, kajian semula dijalankan bagi memastikan tenaga mereka tidak disia-siakan,

katanya.

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