IPTA have so many bad things as said by PhdExpert. How about IPTS?

You only need Masters degree to work in IPTS. But if I dont plan in obtaining any phd degree will I get the chance for future promotion in IPTS or will my career progress be stagnant?

hehe you lecture for 5months then work for 5months, then you get PHD, then you deserve RM10K..since ppl won't give u RM10K, this country don't deserve you..maybe you also dont deserve that much actually? well, who knows..

my point is at the end of the day, ppl just need money to survive. so get a job that you like that can pay for your living, be it locally or internationally. there is no grand plan to change the world, its just making a living, for yourself and your family.

if you get a good offer overseas, go for it, make a living or make a change..if you get a good offer in malaysia, then WORK in malaysia. who cares?

no need to flame everyone in the forum who disagrees to your views..so un'PHD' of you...cheers..

Weak economy? U wanna make me burst in laughter my dear friend. Please analyze the real condition of Malaysia before you label people as 'simple-minded'. Bureaucratic red tape, political backlash, or whatever the reasons are, is not really the reason to the quality of education in our country. How on earth can u say Malaysia has a weak economy??? Man, this drives me crazy. Please clarify on that.

Personally, I believe that I am a victim of the ever deteriorating quality of education in Malaysia. Being, a straight A student (11A1) is practically useless. It doesn't really show anything. While some of you may disagree, consider this; Compare a 8A1 student being really good in mathematics, and a 15A1 student being average on all across all the subjects taken. Really, the only difference is purely the no. of subject taken. When you go out to the job market, what does 15A1 proves? We need to change to the 'O' level system, which focuses the students on particular subjects, rather than asking them to take unnecessary subjects, which is impractical.

That is just one of the many examples why the quality of education in Malaysia is terrible. Can this be improved? Yes. But are the people willing to do it? No. Well, many reasons, mainly $$$. We have the funding, I mean it seriously, it's just that the $$$ is flowing to the wrong hands.

And really, please clarify why u say Malaysia has a weak economy with such a steady growth (except during the crisis).

ex IPTA "lecturer" reporting in.

Reading the first post, I was so tempted to write a lot of things, but I decided against ranting, so let me put it simply:

1) Malaysia doesn't have a tradition of scholarship excellence - i don't mean "biasiswa" but as in being a "Scholar".
2) IPTAs in Malaysia have a very weird grading system when it comes to lecturers - there's no distinction between a lecturer and a researcher. Very few people can be excellent at both.
3) IPTAs in Malaysia also thrive on getting published in obscure journals and conferences.
4) internal politics are hell. many young lecturers I know just accept the status quo even tho they are capable of more.
5) most IPTA lecturers i know use their free time to make money via side businesses

Sure you could say all the above are generalisations - but this was what I faced. Because of item 1, and the fact that everything has to toe the political line, you can't be truly "out of the box" or adventurous. You will likely be told to join several jawatankuasas to organise this and that event, and then suddenly be told you aren't doing enough "research".

So whatever you may feel, it's ultimately your decision, just don't say we didn't warn you.

Weak relative to the foreign countries highlighted by PhDExpert aka Australia and Singapore. What measure do I say is weak? GDP per capita, in USD. GDP I feel is a very decent approximation of the salary anyone will get, and when your GDP overall is low, tax revenue per person is on average lower. Therefore, you get less money to spend on each individual person. What happens when you have less to spend on each person? You get poor quality education as a result of being unable to pay higher salaries for better qualified educators.

On top of that, we have, as u mentioned, money flowing into the wrong hands, which is what I implied by my euphemism on bureaucratic red tape (which u gladly missed). People willing to do it, no, of course not. But you see, the questions and statements you make is, "why cna't they.." instead of "what can I do?". It's very easy to blame everyone else, but why don't you think of your own avenues to make yourself stand out?

On your matter of SPMs many As, that element I agree is misguided. HOWEVER, primary and secondary education's purpose is still to build a well rounded individuals, not specialists in maths, or biology, or linguistics. Tertiary education is where you're supposed to learn your specialization.. You may feel it is unnecessary, but these things have a purpose?

1. Malaysia average income per capita (USD), as compared to S'pore, Aus, US, etc. Direct correlation to the country's GDP. I wouldnt say, but relatively weaker for comparison.

2. Everybody can see M'sian education system is a royal f**ked up. But how can an average student scores a 15A1 in the 1st place? Quantity over quality?

3. Everything can be improved in M'sia. But at the current state, under the current governing bodies... well, lets just say, people are getting jaded, sick and tired about it.

True enough, there is a purpose there. I'm not trying to say that the subjects offered are irrelevant to the students, but more of the standards and quality of education we are offering. How good are they? I don't think it needs further explanation. (Literacy rate decreased from 2008, how is that possible? I thought we are moving towards the goal of being a developed nation?)

Although I do partially agree that a country's economy is judged by its GDP, we should be able to pay an ample remuneration package for those who deserve it. Well, the human capital in Malaysia is attractive to foreigners because of the low-cost that we are able to offer. A country's economy does have a positive correlation with the quality of education, but looking deeper, if we are unable to provide an otherwise equivalent or appropriate price for an employee, how are we supposed to attract more and more professional into our country? This is why our government is currently working towards providing a higher salary for employee, i.e. setting a minimum wage rate, for full timers (it would be near impossible to achieve this as we would have to revamp the whole remuneration system). Lacking of human capital, is our main problem for us to achieve our vision 2020 goal (sounds cool, but another mission impossible as we would need to achieve at least 8% growth every year till then). Like you've mentioned, they can, but wouldn't, because it would take a lot of sacrifice for the government to actually improve our economic situation.

GDP in USD... Hmm... Does it take into account the PPP and other factors such as growth opportunities? If we are to grow, it would entail a certain action to be done by the government, can't just blame it on GDP(I know u don't mean solely on GDP).

Wrong!

This post has been edited by PRiNCe_cHaRM: Mar 1 2010, 01:42 PM

Congratulations ThanatosSwiftfire! You have remained the same in the old past, not knowing that we are only 10 years south of 2020 to be a 'developed' country. Never mind, you can still preach what you like, as long as we adopt the third world mentality, we are still better off than Vietnam, Philippine, and Myanmar, right?

As of today, we should be close to 'developed', sorry, I don't think I'm harsh to compare Malaysia with tinny Singapore. Who is the bully here, the tinny Singapore?

Why our lecturers publish in obscure publication avenues, while Singapore publish in top tiers? The entire Malaysia could NOT even produce 5% of Singapore's good publications! Anyway, I think you should celebrate we have got such a poor performance! Stunning achievement for the infamous reason. Well done!

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Added on March 1, 2010, 1:54 pmLack of Equal Opportunity. The EO is adopted by MOST developed countries.

As I have mentioned, there isn't transparency at all. The lecturers hide their list of publications somewhere otherwise, it's a shame!

+1000000000000000000

Malaysia never learns! Learn to appreciate human capital please!

+100000000000000
You should have groused way long ago

This post has been edited by PhDExpert: Mar 1 2010, 01:57 PM

There's a difference between whether subjects have a purpose, and finding fault in the implementation. What your problem with the subjects is, is how they are implemented, isn't it?

Yes, purchasing power and all that makes a difference, however, when you're dealing with highly mobile professionals, PPP loses most of it's point and absolute amounts is what matters.


Right!

Wow, you resort to insults? Such academic behavior!
I'm preaching? Hmm... I didn't know the roles have switched!
Perhaps you can take a look at our GDP/per capita compared to Singapore/Per capita, and also do some reading on economics. We're NOWHERE clsoe to developed in terms of GDP, productivity numbers in US$ and the quality of tertiary education.

Am I celebrating the poor performance? Wow, I really appreciate how my meaning is misconstrued. I'm saying we should attempt to make improvements, step by step, and whilst we may use the developed nations as a target, it is unfair to use them as a benchmark. There is a difference between what is POSSIBLE to be achieved in the time frame of 10 years, and what's IMPOSSIBLE to be done in the same 10 years.

And yes, we never learn. Great! So uh, why don't you do something to make us be able to appreciate our human capital? What do you get out of this?

I reiterate: "You have remained the same in the old past, not knowing that we are only 10 years south of 2020 to be a 'developed' country." Period!

Insult of what? Then, how about you remark "or someone with a Ph.D, your thinking sure is simple"????? Is this insult? Tell me!

You think I'm being unfair to compare Malaysia with Singapore, what more can I say? We compare Malaysia with Indonesia, shall we? We are only 10 years away from 2020, what's wrong with a developed country as benchmark. Now, tell me, which country should we use as benchmark? LMAO...

I'm intrigued you need me to teach you how to appreciate other's achievement. You know, I appreciate every profession on earth, be it janitor or prime minister. After all the discussion, you fail to understand transparency and fairness are the key!

This post has been edited by PhDExpert: Mar 1 2010, 02:39 PM

And your point is? I know we have 10 years left, and I know we're in deep shit. What I'm asking is, what is your point? You keep talking about it on the internet, and somehow magically we're gonna change into a developed nation? No great kingdom is a built in a day, and certainly not by people who talk like they deserve the world, but have yet to do anything to contribute to the improvement of the country.

Start contributing, and maybe we'll see some good a few years down the future.


Our best benchmark is ourselves. An honest assessment of where we are, and given the circumstances that occured specifically to us, have we, as a nation, made the best choices for the country.

I agree that fairness and transparency is important, but what does TALKING about it in an internet forum, do to change it?

Did I say Malaysia could become developed country in one day?
My points have been clear. There is an urgent need to promote transparency and MERITOCRACY that is FAIR and SQUARE.

Do you understand what is benchmark? I have never stumbled upon any scientific fact that tells "Compare yourself against yourself, and that's the benchmark"... Come on, ThanatosSwiftfire! Do you know what you are telling us? As a reminder, forumers are NOT simple minded.

At last, ThanatosSwiftfire understands how to appreciate human capital. I'm glad someone from Sunway College learned about fairness and transparency. But wait a minute, ThanatosSwiftfire does NOT know how to walk the talk... sigh... ThanatosSwiftfire is talk the talk too in the forum. As I said, the Poisson Process model applies well.

Hmmm... this is the first day of Autumn in Australia =) ThanatosSwiftfire, could you do me a favour? I'm too far away to contribute back home, and this forum is the only channel. You might want to walk the talk. Thanks!

This post has been edited by PhDExpert: Mar 1 2010, 03:02 PM

Wait, are you saying malaysia CAN'T be a developed country?
Hmmm...

Oh yes I sure as hell knows what I'm saying. There is NO one size fit all theory. One theory applicable to the development of one country into a developed nation, doesn't apply completely to any other nation. We benchmark against the-best-case scenario of ourselves, because we have advantages that they don't, and we may have weaknesses that they don't. There are things we know we can do better, and we should, and there are things we know we can't do, because it's against our way of life, principles and traditions.
.
oooo... loook who's resorting to even more cheap shots.
And heh. You had to drag the sunway college tag into this, don't you?

This post has been edited by ThanatosSwiftfire: Mar 1 2010, 03:09 PM

ThanatosSwiftfire does NOT seem to comprehend.

When the generalisation rule applies, you are saying ALL countries should NOT compare among themselves because every country is unique. Sorry, this does NOT apply in reality. no wonder Malaysian are always Jaguh Kampung because of flawed benchmark.

What cheap shots? Sunway college is a good college what? What you think? I'm glad someone from Sunway college learned from me, is this a cheap shot?!

This post has been edited by PhDExpert: Mar 1 2010, 03:17 PM

*sarcasm fail *

Its not wrong to compare between countries. In fact its a good practice. That way we know how far behind we are. But Malaysia is improving its standards. Its not fair to compare between malaysia and American or Japan. Its better to compare between similar countries or maybe countries less advance than America or Japan. Maybe compare to TAiwan or something we can comprehend.

I think it's hopeless to try to be a top-notch researcher in MY. The institutions are not organized to make that possible.

You might nonetheless want to return (for personal reasons). But the fact remains that you will unlikely be able to do much research here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_153_o...ion_of_Malaysia

Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia grants the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King of Malaysia) responsibility for safeguarding the special position of the Malay and other indigenous peoples of Malaysia, collectively referred to as Bumiputra and also the legitimate interests of the other communities. The article specifies how the federal government may protect the interest of these groups by establishing quotas for entry into the civil service, public scholarships and public education.


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We all know it burns down to politics end of the day and it is still up to you if you decide to come back and serve. The Malaysian Brain drain does not just happened. It happened as early as in the 70's and 80's and we have lost a lot of talents. Again, there are ppl who decided to stay back and serve our own country despite all the unfairness. So it is up to your own decision.

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Added on March 1, 2010, 7:03 pmJust to sidetrack a bit. The uk government has already cut their research and education funding last year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/m...esearch-funding

This post has been edited by pinkdevil88: Mar 1 2010, 07:03 PM

So, the conclusion to this thread on "Lecturer's salary and prospects in Malaysia" is rather gloomy.