KUALA LUMPUR: The Higher Education Ministry has 12 months to identify issues facing the sector and also compile the targets achieved, says Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir.
“We have to address the core and not the peripheral issues. We have to hit the nail on the head,” the Higher Education Minister said when speaking about the ministry’s roadmap for 2024 at Universiti Malaya here yesterday.
Zambry said this is necessary to obtain accurate data for the formulation of the higher education sector’s next long-term strategy which will be incorporated into the new national higher education development plan.
He said Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015–2025 (Higher Education) will end next year.
“It is time to create a new higher education development plan that builds upon the existing one with consideration of the perspectives of all stakeholders through a thorough engagement session,” he said.
Zambry also said a special group of experts or commission is not necessary to assess the country’s higher education outcomes compared to countries like Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.
“Let’s move beyond forming an expert group and directly explore the future direction of higher education,” he added.
Zambry said the ministry will have five core focuses for the year – developing the best talent, strengthening the research and innovation ecosystem, implementing a new approach to knowledge transfer and sharing programmes, internationalising higher education and strengthening enabling ecosystems.
He said to advance the country’s development, what is needed are individuals who are not only well educated but also holistic and possess diversified skills.
The goal, the minister said, is to cultivate individuals who excel academically and also demonstrate qualities such as empathy, problem-solving abilities and creativity to address societal challenges.
Additionally, Zambry said it is important for higher learning institutions to collaborate meaningfully with the industry to ensure graduates meet the actual requirements and needs of the workforce.
“This does not imply dragging the country’s higher education into the field of ‘commercialisation’ or making education the absolute property of the industry,” he said.
On a separate matter, Zambry said the Universiti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten) Sultan Ahmad Shah campus in Pahang will not be ceasing its operations and that he had not received any word of its closure.
“While I had heard about it from external sources, I want to clarify that I didn’t receive any instruction, either directly or indirectly,” he said in response to speculation about the future of the Uniten campus.
On Wednesday, it was reported that the Pahang government had disagreed with the proposed closure of the university.
Zambry said he had informed Pahang Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail about the issue when it was brought up.
