You want to improve the university? Admit fewer students

By Helen Petrakou

In 2023, the University of Malaya boasted 20,000 undergraduate and 15,000 postgraduate students.

According to announcements by its management, these numbers are scheduled to double within two years. Preparations to accommodate the increased number of students have started. More students were already admitted this October.

However, the view from the teaching trenches looks considerably less smooth.

UM academics witness a rough reality: a significant portion of the students do not have the background needed to follow courses at university level. It is clear their preparation was quite inadequate and this did not affect their admission to higher education.

(Sadly, many of these students will not have acquired the relevant level upon graduation, either. But they will graduate, usually with impeccable grades. Seeing seniors who will be high-school teachers next year lacking high-school maths skills leads to a suspicion that the circle is vicious by now.)

It looks inevitable to me that the problem will intensify if the number of admissions doubles indiscriminately – and that is even if we take an optimistic view that the infrastructure and teaching staff numbers will somehow rise adequately.

Clearly, this move will serve the prominence of UM as a choice for international students – especially as China’s student export is taking off.

But then, even more care should probably be taken to ensure admission standards are met – not to mention taking care to evaluate whether the quota systems actually benefit those they were designed to help.

In all cases, keeping admissions as it is today, combined with the doubling, is a recipe for a time bomb.

If the goal is to secure Malaysia’s reputation as an attractive destination for higher studies, isn’t the solution staring us in the eye? The number of admitted students should better drop.

Of course, in the complex system of a large university, a balance of factors needs to be considered. Quality thrives only on healthy finances, which is now derived largely from student fees.

To encourage more people to spend on a decent education, the service provided to students needs to match their expectations.  

An ambitious university should not make the rushed mistake of building fame as a place where people go to ‘buy’ degrees. Many probably choose Malaysia, specifically its historical public universities, because of its lower cost of living and attractive environment – not because they want to skip the actual learning.

Unfortunately, in recent years, a systemic drop in the quality of higher education is a global phenomenon, at least in the Western world, and there is certainly no intention of changing route.

But Malaysia does not need to imitate this trend if it wants to enhance its reputation. Admit half the students and see what happens.

Helen Petrakou is a lecturer at the Physics Department of the University of Malaya. Growing up and studying in Greece, she has worked as a researcher in Switzerland, Taiwan, South Korea and, for the last two years, happily in Malaysia.