Local universities cannot be too busy meeting the criteria set by world rating bodies to the extent that they ignore the university's main function, which is to produce excellent students in line with the needs of society, industry and the country.   The Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), Prof. Datuk Dr. Mohammad Shatar Sabran said, his side does not reject the propriety of competing in university rankings or rankings at the global level because that gives a general perception of the quality of higher education of an institution and a country. He said, what is more important for the development of society and the country is the quality of graduates produced by the university, whether it fulfills the first leap outlined in the Malaysian Education Development Plan 2015-2025 which is holistic, entrepreneurial and balanced graduates or otherwise. "It is useless if the position of Malaysian universities is good in the world ranking, but the mismatch between graduates and jobs continues with the lack of soft skills because this situation does not reflect the real situation regarding the quality of graduates. "When this mismatch occurs, there must be something less accurate in the world university ranking evaluation system that is used. "We want local universities to produce excellent students and graduates with soul as expressed by the Minister of Higher Education, Datuk Seri Diraja Dr. Zambry Abdul Kadir," he said. Commenting further, Mohammad Shatar said, the priority in trying to determine the rating of a university is to pay serious attention to the quality of students and graduates who are the biggest stakeholders or the main core. He said, in addition to emphasising university rating criteria such as scientific writing and research, universities need to focus on the quality of their students, especially in the context of improving values, norms, attitudes and soft skills. He said, this effort is not easy and requires commitment at every level of a university from top management to teaching staff, support staff and alumni. "If we can balance excellence in the evaluation criteria of the world university ranking with the quality of students, it will certainly be a great success that will directly impact the university's ranking. "With that, I am confident that the world community will flock to Malaysia to continue their studies at our university which not only has a good ranking, but also as an institution that produces holistic graduates desired by employers and industries at home and abroad, further making this country a global higher education hub. "At the MQA level, we always give support and encouragement to higher educational institution to work in this direction, besides often reminding them that quality is not only in the form of research and the production of impactful journals, but the graduates that are produced," he said.

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Date of Input: 01/07/2024 | Updated: 01/07/2024 | aidawati