This article discusses human capital development through the seven soft skills elements which comprise communication skills, critical thinking and problem solving skills, team work, lifelong learning and information management skills, entrepreneurship skills, ethics, and professional moral and leadership skills. The Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia recently announced that the said soft skills are to be introduced to undergraduates of Institutes of Higher Learning in Malaysia. Suggestions on how these elements are to be incorporated in the undergraduates program are also put forward.

Soft Skills at the Malaysian Institutes of Higher Learning.

This paper presents a descriptive analysis of education reform in selected Southeast Asian nations between 1995 and 2007. It reports the results of a purposive survey of elite informants comprising scholars and educational leaders involved in education reform in Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. The paper addresses two main questions: What have been the main obstacles to education reform in Southeast Asia? And is there anything unique about the process of educational reform and change in Southeast Asia or anything different from processes reported in the Western literature? Although the paper finds more similarities than differences in the process of education reform in Southeast Asia, the author notes distinctive obstacles to reform in these societies. These differences are linked to a cultural explanation of educational change.

Making education reform happen: is there an ‘Asian’ way?

Making ethnic citizens: The politics and practice of education in Malaysia

This study examined the relationship between perceived work-life balance satisfaction of academics in Malaysian public higher education institutions and their intentions to leave the organisation. The study used an on-line survey of academics from three public universities in Malaysia. A total of 1078 usable responses were received for a response rate of 37.2 per cent. The responses from the sample are used to test the hypotheses that job satisfaction and organisational commitment will mediate the relationship between worklife balance and intention to leave. The results indicated that perceived work-life balance satisfaction was correlated negatively with intention to leave the organisation among academics. The results of the simple mediation analysis indicate that job satisfaction and organisational commitment are partial mediators for the relationship between work-life balance and intention to leave. The implications of the findings for management- particularly those in public higher education institutions- are discussed. The findings of this study will help in terms of understanding the state of work-life balance of academics and its relationship with their intentions to leave. It was hoped that the findings of this study would add to a larger body of studies of work-life balance and intention to leave, especially studies among Malaysian higher education academics.

http://www.ijbssnet.com/journals/Vol._2_No._11_[Special_Issue-June_2011]/34.pdf

Work-Life Balance and Intention to Leave among Academics in Malaysian Public Higher Education Institutions

Seven studies converge to show that prompting people to think about a rival versus a nonrival competitor causes them to view current competitions as more connected to past ones, to be more concerned with long-term legacy, and to pursue personal goals in a more eager, less cautious manner. These results are consistent with a social-cognitive view of rivalry that defines it as a competitive relational schema. A preliminary analysis revealed that people were more likely to appeal to past competitions to explain the importance of current rivalry than nonrivalry contests. Experiment 1 showed that people view rivalry versus nonrivalry competitions as more embedded in an ongoing competitive narrative and that this perception increases legacy concerns. The next 2 experiments used a causal chain approach to examine the possibility of legacy concerns acting as a mediator between rivalry and eagerness. Experiment 2a demonstrated that longer (vs. shorter) competitive histories are associated with increased legacy concerns. Experiment 2b manipulated legacy concerns and found that this shifted regulatory focus toward eagerness. Finally, 3 experiments tested the direct effect of thinking about a rival on eager strategy selection: Thinking about rivals (vs. nonrivals) led people to be more interested in offensive than defensive strategies (Experiment 3), to initiate rather than delay their goal pursuit (Experiment 4), and to rely on spontaneous rather than deliberative reasoning (Experiment 5). We suggest that rivalries affect how people view their goals and the strategies they use for pursuing them, and that these effects are at least partially attributable to the shared history between individuals and their rivals.

/pdf/on-rivalry-and-goal-pursuit-shared-competitive-history-2quredok4b.pdf

On rivalry and goal pursuit: Shared competitive history, legacy concerns, and strategy selection.

Discusses educational development, focussing on curriculum changes and issues affecting the change in Malaysia and perspectives for the future. Begins with an introduction that describes the school system in general, followed by a description of educational and curriculum development from independence to the present, highlighting the most current trends and changes Malaysia is undertaking. Concludes with discussions on the issue of values education which is being taught in schools and the efforts of the government to mould a united Malaysian nation with Malaysian values, as well as an overview of the current incentives and future perspectives for greater use of technology in the classroom.

Rahimah Haji Ahmad

Papers

Educational development and reformation in Malaysia: past, present and future

The effects of cooperation and competition in a classroom learning situation.

Kepemimpinan dan kepengetuaan di alaf baru:Pengetua dan pembaharuan sekolah.

Interface of education with employment and leisure in the context of alternative futures, Malaysia

Education and polity - interface of education with employment and leisure in the context of alternative futures: Malaysia