UNAI: United Nations Academic Impact

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20160920213508257
https://academicimpact.un.org/

Core principles:

1. A commitment to the principles inherent in the United Nations Charter as values that education seeks to promote and help fulfil; 
2. A commitment to human rights, among them freedom of inquiry, opinion and speech; 
3. A commitment to educational opportunity for all people regardless of gender, race, religion or ethnicity; 
4. A commitment to the opportunity for every interested individual to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary for the pursuit of higher education; 
5. A commitment to building capacity in higher education systems across the world; 
6. A commitment to encouraging global citizenship through education; 
7. A commitment to advancing peace and conflict resolution through education; 
8. A commitment to addressing issues of poverty through education; 
9. A commitment to promoting sustainability through education; 
10. A commitment to promoting inter-cultural dialogue and understanding, and the 'unlearning' of intolerance, through education.

Out of almost 90 universities in Malaysia, only Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Taylor's University, Universiti Putra Malaysia and University of Malaya are commited to the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI). How about the rest?

NATURE: Socio-economic inequality in science

http://www.nature.com/news/inequality-1.20613

Science is comparatively open: many top-rank inventors and researchers have risen from humble beginnings through a combination of brilliance and luck. Even so, the field is losing out on millions of bright but underprivileged students. And now that researchers have begun to grapple with ways to increase gender and ethnic diversity in science, many are calling for socio-economic status to be the next big topic of debate.

EuasiaReview: Why Malaysian Universities Are Performing Poorly

http://www.eurasiareview.com/06012016-why-malaysian-universities-are-performing-poorly-analysis/

Suppressing independent thought, is counterproductive to creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving, the very mindset that Malaysian universities espouse to develop. Among the characteristics of society required for progression are people who are knowledgeable and have the right to choose.

https://www.facebook.com/jamal.h.hashim/posts/10205102858450416

Why Malaysian universities may not be performing as they should.

1) The appointment of vice-chancellors must be totally based on his academic and administrative merits. 

2) Blind loyalty to the government will lead to poor academic integrity.

3) The Malaysian government research funds provided to Malaysian university can only be used for research in Malaysia. 

4) The easiest way for an academic to get promotion in a Malaysian university is through an administrative post. 

5) University is not a typical civil service organization.

6) Malaysian universities should be given the autonomy and self-governance, free of the political chains that have besieged them all along. 

7) Academic freedom is a basic human right and academic quality is a prerequisite for national survival. 

UWN: Leading the fight against academic corruption

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=2016090109395075

Integrity is a bedrock commitment to the academic community. Prevention of corruption is essential. And, there was a sense that sorting out and strengthening the role of quality assurance and urging greater attention from the quality assurance community were central to future effectiveness in combatting corruption. 

http://www.chea.org/pdf/advisory-statement-unesco-iiep.pdf

Advisory Statement for Effective International Practice: Combatting corruption and enhancing integrity – recently published by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation's International Quality Group or CHEA-CIQG, and the International Institute for Educational Planning or IIEP-UNESCO

CHE: Notes for a New Faculty Member

http://www.chronicle.com/article/Notes-for-a-New-Faculty-Member/237610?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=a9b16f126e12434aae55f6587c4c554a&elq=ecf6b08abade4c808cb844b239dcfd02&elqaid=10475&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=3932

A classroom veteran offers advice that she wishes she’d gotten early in her teaching career

UWN: Can private education contribute to nation building?

Is it possible for private universities to contribute to a unified nation, bringing together those from different backgrounds? Or will institutions always emerge to match the privilege and positioning of wealthy groups? 

In much of Europe, universities have historically had close ties to the state and higher education has been important for developing citizens and collective identity. Yet Malaysia’s international branch campuses operate apart from the state, providing manpower solely for the business sector. 

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20160816143040480

Science & Diplomacy: Academic Freedom in a Globalized World

Lisa Anderson - 08.17.2016

The implications of the securitization of research, both in the sources and purposes of research funding and in who is permitted to conduct research, when, and where, should be taken up more vigorously by professional associations and academies. These implications are no less dazzling, tempting, and terrifying than those of the commercialization of scientific research in the era of Bayh-Dole,⁷ and they will only grow as terrorism drives government policies around the world. 

So in sum, my advice to the international community of research scholars and scientists:

1.     Don’t shun your colleagues. This plays into the hands of those who want to suppress research collaboration and does nothing to provide concrete support to fellow scholars and scientists.

2.     Don’t abandon your research goals. Be pragmatic, flexible, and attentive to the implications of your work for those who may carry it out and who may rely on it, but don’t succumb to intimidation—bullying only works as long as it works.

3.     Continue to name and shame, and take up individual cases. You will always feel terrible knowing both that there are hundreds more scholars and scientists caught invisibly between the permitted and the prohibited and that no individual is a saint, but a little courage, assistance, and comfort on your part is better than none.

4.     Finally, advocate and explain. You know what academic freedom is, mostly because you have been its beneficiary, and you should advocate the virtue and value of education and research proudly, confidently, and energetically, and be absolutely uncompromising in demanding the rights and responsibilities that sustain it, including freedom of information, expression, and association. You can tell the world what is lost by discouraging research: the capacity to cultivate and advance new ideas that will enhance the prospects for economic prosperity, human security, social justice, and dignity everywhere.

http://www.sciencediplomacy.org/perspective/2016/academic-freedom-in-globalized-world?