Abstract:

Malaysia aspires to become an education hub regionally or internationally by the year 2020, providing quality education, accessible to all at an affordable price, as embedded in the National Strategic Plan for Higher Education 2005. The private higher education institution (PHEI) shall play a major role in that plan since the numbers of PHEI is far larger than the public-government owned universities. It shall assist the government not only in achieving the above aspiration but also in generating financial income for the economic well being of the country. As part of the action plan for the above, the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) as the governing body of Malaysian higher education has device a double sword strategy, intended in helping the PHEI to sustain their existence financially as well in simplifying MOHE’s task, without compromising the quality of education. The double sword strategy will be applied at the ministry’s level during the process of upgrading status by colleges or university colleges. This is to replace the current upgrading and evaluation document, which may no longer suitable for application due rigidity, changes of circumstances or vulnerability to human subjectivity. In approaching the problem and formulating the strategy, MOHE adopts the pyramid concept in building the profile for educational excellent. Unlike the previous practice, the new strategy is structurally focussed. It is to complement the two existing orientation process of SETARA and MyRA programs too, developed to assess and accredit the “quality “of educational institution and its R&D capabilities respectively. Within this pyramid framework, there are three layers of components build on top of each other towards academic excellent. Each layers has its own criteria and indicators which could be changed as and when deem fit and expedient. The criteria are further segregated into three main components, known as Fundamental, Important and Bonus. The framework could be applied to any institution regardless of its diverse backgrounds in terms of mode of ownership, market focus or method of teaching and learning.

Keywords:

Sustainable strategy, quality assuarnce, upgrading and evaluation process, criteria and indicator for academic excelent.