one of the hot topics discussed at eduniversal world convention in Shanghai was the ranking system... be it eduniversal, financial times or other ranking systems... many deans actually feel uncomfortable with the ranking except those few 'top' business schools or universities... those schools do not even bother to be ranked but people still ranked them highly... remember what a professor from London Business School (LBS was ranked world No. 1 for Global MBA for 3 consecutive years) told me earlier this year... "we at LBS don't really bother about ranking... we know/clear with what we wanna be... and do what we think is right...the ranking is a bonus and of course good for the school's image"... which implies that top b-schools like LBS do not start with ranking in their minds, rather their belief on the right way to run b-schools (LBS in comparison to London School of Economic focuses more on industry/practical knowledge than academic)... similarly those top business schools do not bother to be accredited, yet the accreditation comes to them...even if they do apply, i am sure any accreditation body would be happy to award them...it is kinda like a business...now the burden is on the average b-schools... do we have a choice? the answer is, of course, no... lets accept the fact that we cannot avoid the ranking whether you like it or not...the question is how we gonna deal with it... the pressure is there... ministry/minister, VC, DVC hence the Dean bla bla... sitting on the hot seat is never easy...and to get good ranking one needs to get the international accreditations... the so-called triple crowns AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA (hmm another head cracking tasks)... then good faculty members will come and then good students...moral of the story... we have no choice but what is important is... if we wanna play it, we have to play it well/wisely... understand the detail methodology (criteria) and choose the right strategy... the fact is we cannot excel in everything, so we need to focus and match our strength with the most important criteria... eduniversal ranking itself, for example, is 'debatable' as business schools are ranked based on recommendations from other business schools deans'... in this regard, uum or more specifically othman yeop abdullah graduate school of business is a new player in the b-school's games... regionally and internationally... here networking, other than branding, is of paramount important for us... ranking is like a game anyway... that's what Manchester Business School Dean said.. .wish us luck in future ranking... cheers
assalam Prof,
ReplyDeleteMy comments if we want to excel we have to focus what we're good at and the accrediation will come in naturally. we have to produce students who is holistically in nature. Our foundation need to be strong too. There is no point in producing students based on quantities but nil qualities. My observations on other u in Malaysia, we have long way to go and we're nobody in terms of research. Our universities also have very weird understanding in recruiting lecturer becoz the main criteria was only academic results. I did not believe in academic results to be a good lecturer/ researcher.For the normal graduates ( not excellent results ) with the working experience in industry did not taken into account in recruiting these interested parties to impart their knowledge.I also did not believe in the universities to have 2 years experience in teaching in order to be admitted as tutor. This all happens in the public & private universities. And the U's and our corrupt politician says Malaysia have brain drain problems??? Big joke...............