Last week, the Dewan Rakyat was told that 17,613 undergraduates didn’t complete their tertiary education last year, an increase of more than 4,000 dropouts from 2020. - NSTP file pic
Last week, the Dewan Rakyat was told that 17,613 undergraduates didn’t complete their tertiary education last year, an increase of more than 4,000 dropouts from 2020. - NSTP file pic

Education, some will say, is all about expanding the mind. Yet others say it is all about educating the heart.

We think education is about educating the mind and the heart. But that is a Leader for another time.

For the here and now, let's be appalled by something more mundane: high dropout rates in Malaysia's public higher education institutions (HEI). Last week, the Dewan Rakyat was told that 17,613 undergraduates didn't complete their tertiary education last year, an increase of more than 4,000 dropouts from 2020.

Yet, no national alarm bell was rung. The press, too, didn't rush to offer its column inches, as it is wont to do when confronted by alarming statistics. Close to three per cent of a total of 589,879 isn't a small number to be ignored. Or to be kept in view. We argue that even one dropout is worth a review. If Malaysia is serious about not leaving anyone behind, that is.

We are glad at least two vice-chancellors think the number to be alarming enough to suggest ways to cut the dropout rates. But not all HEIs are slicing the data for a cure. Perhaps, the HEIs are hindered by industry benchmarks, a corporate bad habit that has engulfed our tertiary institutions. Benchmark studies — introduced to Malaysian companies with deep pockets by management consultancies, like Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey & Co — falsely tell our HEIs that a three per cent dropout rate isn't a bad thing.

Even in the United Kingdom, the home of a few of the "best" universities in the world, the attrition rate is double Malaysia's, meaning some six out of 100 students dropout after a six-year enrolment. In some universities in the United States, it can be as high as 15 per cent. There is comfort in such benchmarks, or so our HEIs think.

Even Malaysia's dropout rate a decade ago — 17.5 per cent — makes this year's attrition data a drop in the ocean, at least to some of our HEIs. In the same year a private university was reported to have exceeded 14 per cent dropout rate in just six months. Benchmarks such as these are blinkers, not pointers to problems. Dropout rate benchmark studies should be banished. What's good for the goose isn't always good for the gander.

Undergraduates have problems aplenty, some of which were disclosed to this newspaper by Universiti Putra Malaysia Vice-Chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Mohd Roslan Sulaiman and Universiti Teknologi Mara Vice-Chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Roziah Mohd Janor. Failing examinations, health problems or not being able to pay tuition fees. This isn't an exhaustive or new list. Undergraduates are waiting for the HEIs and the latter are waiting for the government.

Public HEIs may be able to be flexible on some policies, but not on others. They can, and some do, offer more semesters to students who fail their examinations. This is to their credit. There are others, such as requests for change of courses that is the province of the Malaysian Qualifications Agency. Why the MAQ hasn't solved this ancient problem is a mystery.

When one makes it to the HEI as an undergraduate, it means he or she has the capacity to graduate. The Education Ministry and MAQ must enable the HEIs to find ways to make the undergraduate a graduate. More time and more help will usually see the undergraduate through.