Utilitarianism Hurting Humanities and Social Sciences in Malaysian Universities?

This review article is a personal take of the author written during his appointment as a visiting professor at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in 2013. It is based on the author's informed observations of the path taken by Malaysian public universities in charting their respective course towards what can be considered a world-class university. The views expressed here are intended to serve as a diagnostic tool to capture the performance, quality and progress of Malaysian public universities in that fast-forward mode. Like other contemporary universities in the developing nations, there are challenges and opportunities that go beyond their traditional roles. On the one hand is the conventional call for a university to generate, disseminate and apply knowledge for the enrichment of our ideals and culture. On the other hand, today's university is expected not only to create knowledge but also to contribute to economic growth through innovation. A university's performance is increasingly based on its research output, encompassing publications, innovations, entrepreneurial activities, intellectual property and patent rights. Science and technology henceforth has become the primary focus. Here, the author hopes to present some of his observations in response to these new expectations. If the author's expressed views in this article can be treated as lessons of experience that can give impetus to an evolution of thinking towards our universities' role in churning out the required professionals for the 21^(st) century workforce, he has indeed hit a home run.

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