COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON KEY INDICATORS USED IN PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM OF POLYTECHNICS’ ACADEMIC STAFF

Polytechnic Transformation Plan is launched to reinforce the role of polytechnics and technical education in Malaysia. The third thrust of the Plan puts forth the need to equip polytechnics’ teaching personnel and support staff with high skills and competency (MoHE, 2009). As a result, performance of teaching personnel needs to be evaluated to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of teaching personnel in polytechnics and thus, it is crucial to assert the key indicators used. Based on the literature review, the tentative key indicators identified include, teaching and supervision, research and innovation, administrative tasks, professional activities and services to community. These key indicators are tested in polytechnic context on comparative basis between Northern and Central Region in Malaysia. Researchers employed hybrid/mixed method as the research approach for this study because the method elaborate or develop analysis by providing richer details, and initiate new line of thinking through attention to surprise and provide fresh sight. Amongst the six strategies introduced by Creswell (2003), concurrent embedded strategy is implemented to empirically test the research objective. The purpose of this strategy is to use quantitative data and results to assist in the interpretation of qualitative findings through triangulation. Researchers interviewed the Directors and/or Deputy Directors/Heads of Department of the polytechnic on face-to-face semi-structured basis. In addition, questionnaires developed are distributed to academic staff of the polytechnics to gather their perspective on the key indicators of academic Performance Measurement System. The data collected via interviews are transcribed and translated into English for data analysis process using thematic coding. Besides that, quantitative data are described and analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) as a toolAcademic Staff, Performance Measurement System, Polytechnic, Key Indicators

INVESTIGATING CRITICAL CHALLENGES FACED BY POLYTECHNICS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Mustapha (2001) advocated that Malaysia is short of skilled workers to meet the demands of economic growth (as cited in Jailani, Rashid, Wahid & Noraini; 2009). Thus, there is a need for vocational and technical education, particularly at post-secondary technician levels (Jailani et. al.; 2009) to meet the shortage. Despite the need, there are many challenges faced by polytechnics. This study intends to investigate the critical challenges faced by polytechnics in the Northern and Central Region of Malaysia on case study basis and to put forth recommendations for practical implementations. Based on the literature review, the tentative key critical challenges has been identified which are the employability of polytechnic graduates, collaboration of industry with practical knowledge, competent academic staff, adequate infrastructure/funding and resources, reputation and perception of institution, design and development of curriculum. Researchers used the concurrent embedded strategy in mixed research approach, where directors and/or deputy directors and/or head or department have been interviewed while academic staffs are surveyed using convenience sampling method. Questionnaires are distributed to triangulate the data from qualitative method. After that, researchers analyses the qualitative data using Nvivo as a tool based on thematic coding and quantitative data using Excel and SPSS software as analysis tools to perform descriptive analysisCritical Challenges, Polytechnic, Northern and Central

We should be just a number, and we should embrace it

Purpose - This viewpoint article supports the use of unique identifiers for the authors of scientific publications. This, we believe, aligns with the views of many others as it would solve the problem of author disambiguation. If every researcher had a unique identifier there would be significant opportunities to provide even more services. These extensions are proposed in this paper. Design/methodology/approach - We discuss the bibliographic services that are currently available. This leads to a discussion of how these services could be developed and extended. Findings - We suggest a number of ways that a unique identifier for scientific authors could support many other areas of importance to the scientific community. This will provide a much more robust system that provides a much richer, and more easily maintained, scientific environment. Originality/value - The scientific community lags behind most other communities with regard to the way it identfies individuals. Even if the current vision for a unique identifier for authors were to become more widespread, there would still be many areas where the community could improve its operations. This viewpoint paper suggests some of these, along with a financial model that could underpin the functionalit

Industrial R&D expenditure: its determinants and propensity of technology transfer of top ten companies in Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan

Global research and development (R&D) spending has increased in recent years as the need for new technologies has grown and structural changes in the market have become evident. R&D and its transfer into the commercial sector have an important relationship. This paper analyzes the relationship between industrial R&D expenditure and how it affects technology transfer in Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. The research is based on the analysis of secondary data from published annual reports followed by a quantitative analysis of primary data using survey questionnaires. The research finds that the bulk of R&D expenditure was from the top ten organizations and the top five industries for each country. The findings also reveal that an organization’s readiness in terms of technology and people capabilities is still weak in Malaysia and Singapore. The findings also indicate that there is a relationship between industrial R&D expenditure and the propensity of technology transfer in Taiwan

Is there a role for publication consultants and how should their contribution be recognized?

When a scientific paper, dissertation or thesis is published the author(s) have a duty to report who has contributed to the work. This recognition can take several forms such as authorship, relevant acknowledgments and by citing previous work. There is a growing industry where publication consultants will work with authors, research groups or even institutions to help get their work published, or help submit their dissertation/thesis. This help can range from proof reading, data collection, analysis (including statistics), helping with the literature review and identifying suitable journals/conferences. In this opinion article we question whether these external services are required, given that institutions should provide this support and that experienced researchers should be qualified to carry out these activities. If these services are used, we argue that their use should at least be made transparent either by the consultant being an author on the paper, or by being acknowledged on the paper, dissertation or thesis. We also argue that publication consultants should provide an annual return that details the papers, dissertations and thesis that they have consulted on

The role of relatedness in student learning experiences

Failure in addressing students’ needs in the context of student learning experiences may lead to negative impact on the image of higher education. Framed in self-determination theory, this study examined students’ relatedness on most satisfying experiences in their respective universities. Participants’ (N=1974) responses to open-ended questions were inductively coded to understand relatedness principles of student learning experiences to emerge from the data. The findings revealed that students valued the role of lecturers in professional and personal contexts, peers for friendship and teamwork and academic and non-academic experiences resulted from projects and activities. Given this, to provide a positive learning environment for students, university management needs to address and support lecturers’ well-being, pay attention to student relations on campus and support academic and non-academic activities. By understanding the roles of connecting students to lecturers, students to students and students to administrative staff, we could build a dynamic and functional campus environment for each party to live and care about each other

Good Laboratory Practice for optimization research

Good Laboratory Practice has been a part of non-clinical research for over 40 years yet. Optimization Research, despite having many papers discussing standards being published over the same period of time, has yet to embrace standards that underpin its research.In this paper we argue the need to adopt standards in optimization research. Building on previous papers, many of which have suggested that the optimiza- tion research community should adopt certain standards, we suggest a concrete set of recommendations that the community should adopt.We also discuss how the proposals in this paper could be progressed

Good Laboratory Practice for Optimization Research

Good Laboratory Practice has been a part of non-clinical research for over 40 years yet. Optimization Research, despite having many papers discussing standards being published over the same period of time, has yet to embrace standards that underpin its research. In this paper we argue the need to adopt standards in optimization research. Building on previous papers, many of which have suggested that the optimiza- tion research community should adopt certain standards, we suggest a concrete set of recommendations that the community should adopt. We also discuss how the proposals in this paper could be progressed