WHEN I was working at a public university in my younger years before the 21st century arrived, I heard two phrases from the university’s management that I thought destroyed the integrity of universities in Malaysia: “world class” and “ranking”.

AFTER reading a commentary by a politician saying terrible things about non-Muslims, I feel that we need to begin again and restart this country from the bottom, that is, from the rakyat.

Universities shouldn’t stand as ivory towers with no connection to wider society. If they do, then what is their purpose beyond churning out students with degrees but no vision?

THE power to change for the better always lies within the individual if he or she knows in which direction to change. That’s where reading books comes in. Permanent and meaningful change can come from a personal dialogue between the reader and an author who has decades of wisdom to share.

AS an academician, I feel bored whenever the word “sustainability” is bandied about in university life. Mainly because we academicians are told that if you mention sustainability in your research, then it has more chances of being accepted and given grants.

A nation that is a true family must have room for arguments and disagreements without collapsing.

We Malaysians don’t seem to understand how to use true freedom of expression, speech and criticism properly and in good faith.

TWO recent incidents prompted this week’s column: Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman being barred from entering a university for a dialogue session with students at the end of last month; and a town hall meeting last week with the Higher Education Minister that reportedly saw students less than impressed by the responses – or rather, non-­responses – from the Higher Education people at the political and civil servant levels.

One concept is destructive and sees the ‘other’ as always wrong, while the other can see many ways to become closer to God.

Do we not have free will to believe what we want to or is our thinking restricted by the need to ‘protect tradition’?

MANY academicians were disappointed when Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin announced that the unity government will not touch the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 (UUCA).

YET again the Malaysian education system throws up a “conversion controversy”: Last week it was reported that a teacher told an Indian pupil he should become a Muslim to boost his chances of becoming a national footballer.