The decline of undergraduate education

The result of the above is a lack of ability in critical thinking, as the necessary skills and practice are not provided. This has adverse effects on creativity and the ability of students to be innovative. Universities are proud of the patents they produce, but very few of them actually have any commercial applications. Social and business research tend to just copy another published research, only changing context to the Malaysian scene. There is very little real innovative social research going on in Malaysian public universities.

Its time to overhaul the higher social and business education system. Lecturers must be selected upon the actual expertise they have in the subjects they teach. The excuse by universities they can't find qualified lecturers, only means that university should not be teaching that subject.

Teaching expertise is the prime asset of a faculty. Don't teach what you don't have the ability to teach. Doing anything else is just the blatant pursuit of profits.

The textbook culture must be abandoned in favour of forcing students to seek more diverse information. Students in past generations had to seek a wide diversity of knowledge in what they were studying, just to pass. Spoon feeding students for a pass is not intellectual education.

Much has to do with the attitudes of the students they teach. Doing the minimum amount of work to pass is not serving anyone's interests. There is no quality and value in the qualifications universities issue.

The pursuit of knowledge as an aim must be reinstalled back into the missions of university faculties once again. This means putting diverse views back into classrooms, rather than one-dimensional curricula of today.

Its going to take a generation to correct the above issues. However, this needs commitment to repair the damage done. Knowledge, mastery, and the wisdom of future generations depends upon this.