NEWS: Government grants for researchers

THE Government will consider providing matching grants to local researchers who obtain grants from the industry, multinational corporations and international institutions.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said that the ministry had recommended this under the 10th Malaysia Plan to ensure continuity in quality research.

“These one-to-one ratio grants which we proposed mirror the grant scheme of advanced nations,” he said after opening the ministry’s Integrity Day.
Mohamed Khaled (second from left) and ministry secretary-general Datuk Dr Zulkefli A. Hassan (left) after opening the ministry’s Integrity Day at the Malaysian Institute of Integrity. With them are Suriah Mamat and Elmi Nizam (right) from the institute.

“This will reflect the Government’s commitment as a research partner and strengthen the national innovation chain.”

It is learnt that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had agreed in principle to the recommendation.

Mohamed Khaled added that the ministry would identify six research clusters to maximise the value of research projects by fostering collaboration amongst local researchers.

“We have around 20,000 academic staff and 1,600 professors nationwide,” he said. “Much of the research in local IPTs (Institutions of Higher Learning) is done in isolation at the moment and we should foster an environment for greater collaboration.”

However, Mohamed Khaled urged public IPTs to foster greater industry collaboration on research projects to minimise their dependence on government funding.

Presently, funding for researchers stem from the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme, which has an allocation of around RM250mil.

Greater investment in science and technology endeavours and the formation of research clusters are two of the eight main agendas the ministry is recommending under the 10th Malaysia Plan.

Other agendas include providing greater access to higher education by enhancing the role played by private IPTs, establishing Malaysia as a knowledge and innovation hub by tapping new student markets and providing autonomy to research institutions in parent IPTs.

The remaining agendas include encouraging local academicians to obtain postgraduate qualifications locally, nurturing the creativity and potential of Malaysian students and ensuring that public IPTs are able to manage their own financial destinies.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Khaled also said that Malaysia had proposed the setting up of a training centre for quality assessors of OIC (Organisation of Islamic Countries) member nations.

Feedback had been positive as Malaysia has had a decade of experience through efforts by the National Accreditation Board, and subsequently, the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), he said after the Round Table Meeting of OIC Quality Assurance Agencies last week.

The centre will be managed by the MQA and will provide short courses, training workshops and work attachments.

“The centre would be housed in the MQA or at a public IPT,”said Mohamed Khaled.

Fourty-nine participants from 29 OIC nations and observers from Cambodia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Morocco and Thailand participated in the meeting aimed at fostering greater convergence of accreditation and quality assessment amongst the respective agencies.

It is learnt that 14 out of 57 OIC nations have quality assurance agencies for higher education while another 12 countries are in the midst of forming them.

The round table discussion was the result of a meeting of Education and Higher Education ministers of OIC nations which took place at Baku, Azerbaijan, in October last year.