Non-Profit Organisation on Education for Malaysians?

No, there's no such organisation that I'm aware of at this point of time. But it's an idea which I have been toying with for sometime now, even before I started this blog.

Faithful readers of this blog will have known that I'm particularly concerned with regards to issues such as unemployment among fresh graduates, the standards of universities (locally and overseas) as well as the lack of credible information with regards to educational institutions in the country.

Hence, I've always toyed with the idea of setting up such an entity, a non-profit organisation relating to education for Malaysians to help "ease" some of the above issues - and to perform some of the functions which our local education ministries are failing to do (or are not doing very well). Some of the proposed objectives and actions of the organisation would include:

1. Grooming Top Students to Top Universities

The issue that readers would know that I'm not particularly happy about is the fact that Malaysia's top students are not provided with sufficient counselling to ensure that they are guided on the right track to qualify for the world's top universities. I've blogged about it here in my earlier post "Singaporeans Smarter Than Malaysians?".

Some of the comments relating to the above post have attributed the reason as a matter of "finances". I'd like to think that it's a fair bit more than just financing. Our governement authorities in-charge of scholarships have a tendency to send some of our top students to the most mediocre of universities overseas. And that's probably because the officers at these agencies regard these mediocre universities as "top" universities. I don't have the actual statistics on hand, but I'm pretty certain we send more scholars abroad than Singapore does every year. The difference is they don't send scholars to mediocre universities, while we definitely do.

Hence just about a month ago, a Malaysian alumni of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) contacted me with regards to providing top local students, particularly those taking their SPM, with mentoring and guidance with regards to applications and enrolment to the top universities of the world. Form 5 is probably the relevant year for these activities to ensure that these students take the necessary steps to acquire the right qualifications after completing their SPM examinations. Otherwise, some of these students may just end up in the wrong programmes with the many private colleges in Malaysia.

We would also like to disseminate information such as scholarships, bursaries and grants to ensure that these students do not let the lack of funds be a reason to hinder their access to these universities.

2. Career or employment advisory services

I was also thinking of starting off a series of seminars with regards to helping prospective graduates (probably students in the penultimate and final years in the universities) with simple tips on seeking employment. I say simple tips, because there is simply no secret formulas to gaining employment. There are however simple things-to-do, and it's really up to the individual students to work on themselves.

I've covered some of these tips here, but while this blog is indeed getting more popular, there's probably a limit to the its reach at this point of time. The practical tips will really include things like filling in application forms, creating resumes, requirements for nature of work etc. etc.

Many of the points I want to cover, are also typically provided by other commercial entities such as Jobstreet.com. However, I just thought it might just be useful to provide perspectives from local employers of a certain background instead of merely from a recruitment agency. I could charge say, RM10 per student, just to cover the cost and logistics of the event, or Jobstreet could sponsor the events :-) (See Ming? :-)) These sessions could also enable Q&As to allow employees at ask specific questions about an employer's point of view.

We could do roadshows around the country at the universities in the Klang Valley, Penang and Johor Bahru. What do you think? The above ideas are a start and if successful, they could lead to a more permanent structure to the career counselling events which might then be held annually.

3. Compile an Independent Rankings Table for Local Institutions of Higher Learning

This is the most recently added objective to the idea, partly due to the hoo-haa over the world rankings table compiled by The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES). It is also probably the hardest, as we will require information which the relevant institutions or authorities may not be willing to provide.

Providing an independent and uncommercialised rankings table for local institutions will provide a basis for prospective students to evaluate which are the best colleges for them to pursue their further education locally. As it stands, besides relying on word-of-mouth, there is little a prospective student can do to make semi-objective comparisons of the different universities and colleges.

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So what do you think? For SPM and STPM readers out there, do you think that the above services will be terribly useful and important for you, with regards to the route you take for further education? Is it of good value or is it just going to be "marginally" useful?

While the objectives, I believe, are clearly useful, there are still many practical issues to deal with. The first 2 objectives above are probably easier to manage, but even then I'd need to look into recruiting more high calibre top Malaysian individuals to contribute their valuable time, manage the logistics, secure sponsors etc. The 3rd objective is probably the hardest, given that the Ministry of Higher Education and the relevant university authorities may not take kindly to an "independent" evaluation of their status and quality.

I am fairly keen to start the above "movement" and would like to hear from out there, whether as a potential beneficiary, or as a potential accomplice of the proposed programmes. I have certainly, in the past, been guilty of partaking in activities which were not follow through to completion, but I certainly hope that this is one idea which will see the light of day.