I-Glass: The latest in tertiary education

Thursday, November 27, 2014

The latest in tertiary education

I do not think there's much happy news except that the industry has gone like any others: protectionism, elitism, rich people's club and it continues to favour the privileged groups...those who have money, live near well-endowed unis - will gain and will have the world under their feet (not in their palms to care for).

I'm usually not pessimistic but this economic bloc thingy seems to be extended to the education industry now.I raised this issue with Michael Gallagher who also touched on access and equity in his talk.But he gave a long honest response: it is a matter to be taken up possibly by NGOs and be brought to the international attention but his suggestion that we took charge of where and what we wanted made more sense..ASEAN or OIC should hv their own G18 ke hapa group.Masalah dgn Arab ni, depa suka berapit dgn orang putih dari membangun sesama Muslim.We lose before we begin.Pas tu kalu pi unis in the West pandai pulak bwk diri ikut peraturan segala.Kat UIA, hentak2 meja kalau tak dpt apa dia nak..not all ..ada la a few cases.

Dato Prof Dr. Asmah, our DG is a real smart lady.I like her decisiveness.She spoke on the digital natives (Nadra one of them..lahir2, dah ada iPad etc).When this gen enters uni, the way they learn will be different.Are we prepared for that? She suggested blended approach would be the future of tomorrow and powerpoint and other forms of multimedia would be irrelevant in classrooms (cos' they would have been given before classes).

Part 2

As always, informal conversations say more than formal talks.I was in conversation with the speaker from Spore and said the prob in Spore was not about funding but what happened to graduates upon graduation since the unemployment rate is now standing at 8% with 50.5% work force going to foreigners.Takda artinya NUS being ranked first in Asia, 22nd in the world if the uni were made of 50% foreign academics and the fact that they failed to produce nobel laureates to date (saja I cucuk sbb dia eksyen sgt on the rankings..haha but a nice chap really cos' he said nasib I tak tanya soalan tu sbb it is in debate in Spore and I had nailed it) But being the gentleman he was, he mentioned our conversation on this in the panel discussion.With the Prof from Jamaica pun bagus discussions nya at tea break.He said I was welcomed to do my sabbatical in Jamaica.Reggae time! :))

My former student, Maryam was sweet enough to take me and Norzan out to lunch by the beach.I had char kuey teow, coconut shake and coconut juice.Sedap gila kat Padang Kota ni.

I loved staying at the Equatorial cos' it's so quiet and the staff are so friendly...semalam we used the van service to dine at the Chinese Muslim Restaurant and we dropped Norzan at Vistana on the way back.

Pagi tadi I missed the USM transport (sengaja bangun lewat) but the bellboy got me a taxi at rm10 to drive me to the venue (which was just at the foot of the hill..I could have walked but tak cool la nak menyeret luggage I down the hill, kan?)