Sokong (agree), sokong !! - Read in the NST, 17 June, 2005, pg. 10 that institutions of higher learning were urged to develop a system to retain professors and intellectuals who are due to retire. Sounds good to me. Make sense actually. Teaching, according to my father is one of the noblest vocation one can have as education is deemed obligatory by Islam to man and women.
In the time of the Prophet (pbuh), prisoners of war were asked to teach muslim children before they can be set free. A very high value is placed on education. Academia is not an easy path to trod either with lecturers getting their professorship in the fifties, and some just a year or two before they retire. Of course, there are also the young professors. I got my Professorship at 45, don't know whether that is considered young or old.
It is not easy to be learned, and at the peak of one's career, it is time to retire. Teaching is also one vocation where it complements well with the notion of lfelong learning where even Islam propagates and encourages one to learn from the cradle to the grave. The day one stops learning is the day one dies - heard of this before?? - or something like that.
However, I propose that the job specification of the Prefessor (R) - as in retired, be slightly different and not be focussed too much on teaching but more of research and supervision of postgraduate studies. They can then be the mentor or nucleus to the younger faculty members and as an expert and world renowned figure (we hope) in his/her area, there is the capacity to attract foreign postgraduate students.
Postgraduate (and even post doctoral) work is very important as they provide the continuity in research and advancement in research. In other words, you can work the postgrads like a horse (so to speak) and at the end of the day, they will get their Ph.Ds and work has advanced. This concept has been developed and exploited well in the west.
If Malaysia wants to go in this direction, then she must put the money where the mouth is. If not, again, nothing will happen - big schemes, no money, do halfway - same old story, die a natural death. No money, no committment from the top (TQM principle) - no talk.
How many times have we talked about bringing back top Malaysian scientists who have made good overseas, enticing them with duty free cars and the like. Whoever they are just don't get it!! What the scientist will need are his equipment and gadgets to duplicate the set-up so that he can continue to work in Malaysia (not to mention back-ups and the relevant support systems - and not red tape) - not cheap cars and free house. He will probably sleep in the lab. These 'toys' are NOT CHEAP. We are talking high end stuff here, millions of dollars - and this is the KEY issue here. How come (suddenly) there is money for those coming home, so to speak, when it is not easy to get the money at home. Given the chance, local scientists CAN achieve the same, had they been given the right equipment and support, which those who worked overseas had access to. Don't be like 'kera di hutan disusukan, anak di rumah mati kebuluran.'
From personal experience, when I returned to Malaysia in 1986 with a Ph.D in Physics, I was working on the fabrication of thin metallic film by sputtering technology. This metallic coats that I investigated were for magnetic storage devices coats such as those found on video tapes and I was working on the stability (temperature effects) of the alloys. This was then at the forefront of materials research. At that time even the company Komag did not exist in Malaysia. OK, so I applied for a sputtering machine to get some work done. To cut a LONG STORY short, I did not see the sputtering machine (a simple one too) until more than 10 years later (no need to tell the tale in between), by which time I had reskilled myself in the area of Open & Distance Learning. I am now a Professor of Open & Distance Learning, not a Professor of Physics. Aiyaa, tak tau lah ...
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Excellent, love it! » » »