00:01Public universities should be given greater autonomy and have their bureaucratic hurdles reduced.
00:09Former Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said such reforms would allow the country's tertiary institutions to thrive.
00:19We must give universities, I'm talking about public universities, some kind of autonomy.
00:25Today, every subject, every course must first be approved by the MQA.
00:35Yes, it is good, but the MQA is superbly slow in approving the subjects.
00:42Saifuddin urged the MQA to expedite the approval process for new courses,
00:47proposing that once a university meets a baseline standard, it should be granted a certain level of autonomy.
00:55He said this will lead to faster and better decision-making processes in areas like science, mathematics, and information and communications technology.
01:06The pace of advancement is unbelievable.
01:12Gone are the days when you take years for a new research to come up with something.
01:20Now it's just a matter of months and weeks, and before you know it, your equipment is already outdated.
01:28The Bersatu man also said genuine university autonomy cannot be achieved as long as political appointments continue to influence leadership positions.
01:40It can only be done if the wise chancellors are appointed among leading scholars.
01:46And you must really avoid political appointees as senior officers at universities.
