WEDNESDAY, 20 JULY 2011 00:00
By S. Sivaselvam Pix by Saliman Leman
BANGI, 20 July, 2011 - UKM is
introducing contract learning as
part of its student-centred learning
strategy,said Vice-Chancellor
Prof Tan Sri Dato’ Wira Dr. Sharifah
Hapsah Shahabudin.
In contract learning the students, within
the broad framework of the university’s
learning outcomes, decide onthe
activities they want to do on their own
to achieve those outcomes. These can
include leadership, teamwork and
management abilities.
“The students can design their own
programmes and they will get these
accredited, with supervisors to see
that theyachieve the outcome that
they set out for themselves.”
In tis second part of her interview with UKM News Portal, she spoke of how
professors are important at different levels. At the micro level, where they deal
directly with the students, they can exert a very profound influence on the students
with regard to the way they think and behave.
“It’s not just the knowledge that is being transmitted by the professors, but also how
the professors help the students to think and imbibe values which are important for
us as a nation.”
While previously “we left it too much to professors to their own devices, perhaps now
we should be a bit more systematic and that’s what we are trying to do with
the outcomes-based approach and the student-centred learning,” she said.
“At the classroom level, we can set guidelines on what professors should also be doing,
rather than only considering themselves as people with knowledge and transmitting
that knowledge.”
While knowledge is everywhere - on the Internet, in books and journals – she felt that
what professors must do is to help students learn how to access this knowledge that is
available. They must learn to show students the world, guide them on how to evaluate
such information, how to use it, so that they can make changes to the things that they
are concerned about.
“So, at this micro level, we determine what outcomes we expect the students to achieve,
how the professors design the teaching and learning to help students achieve this,”
she added.
“It would mean things would have to be outside the classroom. You cannot impart a lot
of the things we want to in just lectures, for example, because a lot of it the students
have to observe and experience themselves.”
Combining these two, the professors helping the students, and the students coming up
with their own teaching-learning activities, then it becomes contract learning, a
contract between the university and students.
“It tells the students that if they are allowed to do certain things, they must fulfill their
contract in terms of the outcomes. At the micro level, we are progressing fairly well,”
she said.
At the recent National Professors Congress in Kuala Lumpur, the chairman of the
National Professors Council, Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr. Zakri Abdul Hamid, wanted
professors to take on the role of national thinkers, visionaries as well as an
intellectual tonic and problem solvers, who can help the country’s leaders
people-related problems.
He spoke of how the late Prof. Syed Hussein Alatas and Royal Prof. Ungku Aziz impacted
the lives of Malaysians. In other words, he sees professors as serving the community
beyond their universities.
To this, Prof. Tan Sri Sharifah Hapsah points out that there are many other professors
too who have been doing a lot for the community at large, such as in Islamic banking
and on social issues. There are a sizeable number of professors who have actually
introduced projects that could become models of development.
If Prof. Zakri is speaking about a collective basis, with a more organised level of input,
she said that is what the Council is all about, and it already has several clusters on
various disciplines.
“If they (Council members) can get their act together to study an issue and come out
very quickly with well reasoned proposals to the government, that’ll be one very
big input, particularly when the government spends a lot on consultancy,” she added.
Prof Sharifah Hapsah contended that UKM is already a consultancy, as it has groups of
people working on projects and they submit recommendations or studies.
“So now, if instead of doing this at the university level, we are going to do it at the
National Professors Council, I’m not quite sure how this is going to work out in the end.
This is because at the university we are doing a lot of consultancy work already.
We have been contributing significantly to various projects undertaken by both public
and private sector agencies.”
She felt that the Council could probably come out with some good ideas about how
universities should be governed or work out programmes for universities on how they
should move forward.
It should in fact look not only at the direction of higher education but look at the whole
education system, from preschool right up to PhD and beyond, even continuing education.
“Professors should be thinking very seriously in the area of continuing education, because
that’s where you are required to keep the economy going. Once you graduate nobody’s
holding your hand, and you must learn how to learn on your own. Perhaps professors
can think about how this can be effectively done.
They can also help chart research areas,” Prof Sharifah Hapsah said. 
