Over-emphasising on academic research which constitutes a great part of assessment for confirmation had caused Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) lecturers on one-year probation to be under constant pressure.

“The new president had introduced a new evaluating system that stressed on performance of academic staffs to increase the university standard not only as an education institution but also a research centre,” an academic staff told J-on when interviewed.

Research to be embarked on has to fulfill requirements of several levels – department, faculty and university to meet target listed in an appraisal system called Key Result Areas (KRA).

“The assessment benchmark for passing had been raised from 3.5 to 3.7,” the staff said, adding that overemphasising academic research in evaluating lecturers would be unfair to those who actually teach well.

“Those who have just newly graduated might not even know their direction, yet they had to seek solutions through various channels in order to fulfil the requirement,” he said.

He highlighted that applying for grant and scholarship for research would be cumbersome especially for master students who barely have any established connection with sponsors.

“If a lecturer has successfully obtained a research grant, his or her KRA would be increased.

“But it is very difficult for UTAR lecturers to receive research grants since there are more established education institutions in the country to compete against,” he said.

The intention to upgrade UTAR to a better research centre is good but being over-ambitious in carrying out so many things all at once would burden lecturers, he said.

He told J-on that a lecturer has to teach around 17 to 18 hours a week, and that does not include his consultation hours, marking assignments and examination scripts, industrial attachment and final year project supervision.

“You can easily calculate how much time is left for a lecturer to conduct a research,” he said. “If these new lecturers do not pass the probation period, it would be very difficult for them to remain in the university.”

J-on interviewed another academic staff that is under the probation on the matter.

“Within six months, I need to register for and attend PhD courses and by presenting my timetable and attendance to the management. If anyone fails to do it within that period of time, the probation would be extended to another six month and so on,” she said.

She added that there was no standardised probation system as instruction was directed from the president himself to the staffs, whereby the human resource department could not provide proper answers to her inquiries.

When she applied working in UTAR, she said the main concern raised by her interviewer was her willingness to move to Kampar and did not mention about the need to study PhD. She was even told that the PJ UTAR campus would be closed down eventually.

“Later they told me that the PJ campus still has its market value. I requested to be transferred to PJ but they did not allow me to do so,” she said.

Commenting on the KRA appraisal system, she said the system has placed much of the emphasis on academic research and publication whereas teaching only comprises a minimal percentage.

“Bonus should be given based on the organisation’s financial performance, not only by KRA. With these strict criteria, chances for an academic staff to achieve the standard are very low,” she said and added that “if a company treats its employees well, they would not have the feeling to leave”.