While government funds for the expansion
of graduate education are generous, those
funds come with relatively stringent layers of
accountability, largely captured in the fairly elaborate
KPI system. Universities must report to the Ministry
of Higher Education on a series of KPIs which
they must meet to continue to receive government
funding. These KPIs emphasise the overall number
of publications produced, number of patents filed,
amount of teaching and amount of outside research
funds received. Within the university, academic
departments and research units have KPIs that
largely mirror the university’s, with an emphasis
on publication rates and external funds received.
Individual faculty members each have KPIs that,
again, largely mirror those of the university and
their faculty. As described by interviewees at one
of the universities, faculty members are expected
to teach four courses per year, publish one to two
articles in top-tier journals annually (depending on
rank, with senior faculty expected to publish more),
secure external funding, and be involved in some
form of community outreach. Faculty members are
expected to be adequate in all areas and to excel in
at least one.
University administrators argue the merits of having a
set of consistent objectives and verifiable indicators
that could be applied across a variety of disciplines.
In their view, fairness dictates that everyone is
subject to the same expectations regarding teaching
load, publication output, external fund raising and
community outreach. They view KPIs as a fair and
transparent system. Everyone understands what is
expected of them. On the other hand, the KPI system
is not as popular among faculty members. Many
of them believe KPIs are being applied in a rather
inflexible manner. Not surprisingly, this ‘one size fits
all’ approach is a point of considerable criticism and
debate within the faculty. But views differ. The system
appears to have relatively more support among
faculty members in STEM areas (science, technology,
engineering and mathematics). Faculty members in
the arts, humanities and, to a considerable extent,
social sciences see it as inappropriate and unfair.
Interviewees observed that university administrators
have difficulty in knowing how to evaluate a book
or art show relative to a publication in an ISI journal,
typically to the detriment of those not in the hard
sciences. While some of the Malaysian universities
are experimenting with introducing more flexibility,
these efforts are at an embryonic stage. One point
of wide agreement, however, is that virtually all
interviewees believed the KPI system puts great
pressure on faculty, especially young faculty, and
many faculty members regard the system as unfair.
The effectiveness of the KPI system is, in part, limited
by larger structural issues. Salaries are fixed by
government and are standard across all faculty of
similar rank. This means that there are few financial
incentives for stellar performance. Furthermore,
since most instructional staff are tenured (e.g. have
strong employment security), failure to meet KPIs
does not put their jobs at risk. They may lose out
on promotions and annual raises, but their jobs are
secure. To offset this limitation, all of the universities
have implemented bonus systems in which faculty
members are paid extra for each publication, the
amount based on the impact factor of the journal,
in addition to bringing in grants and contracts.
These amounts are designed to be motivating; in