Opinion: Addressing the kinks before grading begins
New Straits Times (Columns)
09 Oct 2006
CHOK SUAT LING 

The Higher Education Ministry wants to grade private educational institutions next year. The operators are worried about several pressing issues which need to be ironed out first. CHOK SUAT LING reports.

PICTURE this: A parent enrols his son in a private college with Grade A status, but the very next year, the institution is down to Grade B or worse.

Considering the hefty fees already paid for the highly rated college, this situation is, to say the least, grievously unfair on the father and his son.

And this is not the only concern experts have about the proposed grading system for private educational institutions (IPTS) next year.

They agree that the reasoning behind the move — to ensure quality education — is sound, but say the Higher Education Ministry needs to sort out a number of issues before implementing the system.

Many operators of IPTS have not warmed up to the thought of having their institutions graded. While they do not oppose efforts to ensure quality education, they want the ministry to proceed with care.

Even though the government has been bandying the idea around since 2001, they say there remains a great deal of confusion.

It does not help that the ministry has made several different statements over the years. IPTS operators are also concerned about the criteria that will be used for grading.

In 2001, it was announced that institutions would be categorised under Grade A, B or C, depending on facilities and lecturers, among other things.

Two years later, the then minister said ratings would be given to IPTS courses from 2005, based on lecturers, curriculums and facilities, and courses would be categorised as "very competitive" and "competitive". This year, the ministry appears to have reverted to its 2001 position.

"The ministry must be clear what it wants," says National Association of Private Educational Institutions (Napei) president Elajsolan Mohan.

Before this, he says, IPTS were told there would be a ranking, not grading.

"Late last year, the ministry said it was not ready for ranking but would have a rating instead. But the rating will start with the public institutions. Now, suddenly, there is a grading exercise, supposed to start with the private institutions."

Industry players want the ministry to look into several factors before pushing ahead with its agenda, the most integral being the criteria used to determine the grade.

Elajsolan says colleges already need to fulfil several conditions before being given the licence to operate. They must also satisfy several requirements before their courses are considered fit to receive accreditation.

"So what other criteria are we looking at for grading? If colleges do not meet requirements in the first place, they would not have been given licences and accreditation."

He suggests the employability of graduates be a criterion.

"This should be the most important yardstick. Colleges that produce employable graduates should have an edge over the rest in the grading exercise."

The other source of worry is how auditors tasked with grading will be trained. The fear is that they will use public universities as a benchmark.

There is also concern that the size and location of colleges will be taken into consideration. These two requirements were hinted at during the ministry’s announcement on grading last month.

Institute Megatech chief executive officer P. Sailanathan says a grading based on size and location is unfair.

"A college may be small but that should not automatically mean a low grade. Institute Megatech may be small size-wise but does it mean it is a ‘small’ college? Not necessarily."

Institute Megatech offers two engineering diploma programmes and has 500 students, so Sailanathan claims it is "larger" than a college with 2,000 students but offering 20 different programmes.

"But if the size of an institution is to be a criterion, I will be at a disadvantage."

He says if the government introduces grading without due diligence, it will sound the death knell for smaller colleges. "It will put us all out of business."

There are now 532 IPTS, of which 510 are of moderate size. The other 22 are private universities and university colleges. Salianathan adds that the government should grade public universities first.

Universiti Malaya, as it is, has slid downwards in The Times Higher Education Supplement rankings this year.

Some feel a better way to weed out the black sheep is the enforcement of laws.

Napei’s Elajsolan says if there were effective enforcement, no college would be taking in foreign workers using student visas.

"We already have the laws. There just needs to be enforcement of the said laws."

For Ong Kian Ming, a Fulbright scholar at Duke University in the United States, initial complaints from some of the IPTS are expected.

"The ministry, hopefully, will respond to the feedback, give clarifications and improve on its methodology. The ministry would do well to examine ranking systems used in the US and Britain and adopt best practices to suit the local context.

Ong, who co-writes a popular blog on Malaysian education, says, however, that if implemented well, grading can help create more competition among private institutions of higher learning.

"Those in the C cateory will be forced to improve their infrastructure — both hardware and software. Those in the A category would also want to find ways of differentiating themselves from the other institutions in the same category.

"One of the by-products, hopefully, of such a grading report will be more information on student-teacher ratios, the percentage of lecturers with Masters or PhDs, the quality of the library and computer facilities, so that parents can make more informed choices."

Happily for IPTS operators, the ministry has been fairly receptive of their views. A committee comprising representatives from IPTS has met to discuss the proposed grading exercise and will meet again.

The ministry is determined to finally see this through. The Malaysian Qualifications Agency, to be set up soon, is expected to help make the exercise a reality next year.

The views of IPTS are and will continue to be sought, and the ministry has given an undertaking that all details will be thrashed out before implementation.

Elajsolan wants the criteria to be made public once finalised: "Colleges can then see which areas they need to improve."

He has one other request. He wants the ministry to give the IPTS time — a year or more — to make the necessary changes before they are subjected to the grading exercise.