The Business of Education in Malaysia
by Shaik Osman Majid
I recently received an offer to teach, on a part-time basis, at an established private college. The first course was “News Management,” designed for final year undergraduates. The second, “Basic Journalism” was framed for a combined group of first- and second-year students. All were enrolled in a mass communications course leading to a degree (which will be awarded by a public university through a twinning [transfer] program). As a journalist with 23 years of experience and a former teacher, I would have had little difficultly handling the two courses. I like to believe my strength, besides writing, is teaching, a role I often also executed when I was an editor. I, however, politely declined the invitation. The reason I gave was, while I was flattered by the headhunting procedure through which I was traced to my home, the proffered rate of RM100 ($26.31) an hour was unflattering.
But there were other reasons why I refused to take the job. From the short conversation, it was clear that the private institution was desperate to secure part-time help for a full-time job. The teaching load required four hours of teaching and two hours of tutorials a week over a three-month-long semester. Moreover, I was told that classes would commence on June 10th while the job offer came on June 5th. It was disturbing to learn that a reputable college, allied with an established public university, would attempt to rope in a teacher on five days’ notice to teach final-year undergraduates.
It was also apparent that the institution had only heard of my “name” and nothing much else. The person at the other end of the line was astonished when I recited my credentials. I was very quickly anointed the ideal teacher to conduct the two courses. Even though I am, again, very flattered by the person’s perception of me as the right candidate, what transpired is an indictment of the college’s policies in securing teachers. The indictment poses three questions. First, does the college collect fees first and later search out the staff to teach the promised program? Second, does it check the credentials of those whom it reaches out to hire as part-time help? Third, do the payments attract quality teachers? More importantly, is the Ministry of Education vigilant enough over the recruitment of teaching staff, including part-timers, in these institutions?
True, we read of reports about the ministry’s warnings and threats of closure. Yes, it has closed down colleges because of inadequate facilities. Fine, it scrutinizes the academic credentials of the teaching staff published in the colorful brochures. But do its officers monitor the quality of teaching and assess the quality of the teachers in the classrooms? The reality is that all of the over 300 private universities and colleges in Malaysia, big and small, are in education because it is good business. They use names that have a long train of academic abbreviations with which to entice students and fatten enrollment. But part-time staff hired at low hourly rates conducts much of the teaching.
I speak from experience, since I have been offered several part-time teaching positions over the past seven years. The first was in June 1996. An acquaintance, a professor who coordinated a Masters in Business Administration program, invited me to lecture on Malaysian Economics. We did not discuss terms. I declined the offer for the simple reason that I felt I was not competent enough to teach economics even though I had been a business editor for four years, and was writing two weekly columns, “Biztalk” and “Econtalk.” Moreover, the proffered task would have been taxing if added on to my work at that time. The professor implored; I demurred. He was desperate for a teacher; I suggested he cancel the course.
By 1998, I was in semi-retirement mode, working from home. All my friends came to know of my situation. One, who managed a private college, tried to get me to teach economics and business. The offer was, once again, a part-time proposition. I said I did not have the credentials to teach either economics or business. The reply—academic qualifications did not matter, but reputation does. I declined primarily because the remuneration rate was low, RM80 ($21.00) an hour. I had another offer in September last year. This time, the proposition called for the teaching of a weekend course—over 12 hours to part-time students—called Effective English. It would be part of a program leading to a degree in English awarded by an American university. The two marketing officers of that institute, which I later discovered was only licensed to conduct kindergarten classes, offered me an hourly rate of RM122 ($32.00). One of the two was a circulation executive in the company I had worked for before I’d retired, and was therefore able to track me down. They wanted me to conduct the course the next day.
Many private institutions in Malaysia are desperate to recruit part-timers to teach, never mind their abilities. They place priority on snaring students and their fees, rather than marshalling resources to teach the content of courses offered.
