1. Like many parents, I do the daily school runs. Two boys. Budding footballers. 

Most mornings, I would gently make little circles in their palm while holding hands as we navigate our way to the school entrance through hordes of parents, grandparents, other kids, and parked vehicles. I would tell them that they are good kids, and that they should greet their teachers like they mean it, and that I will see them later. 

I miss them the most in that short moment between letting their hands go, kissing their sometimes-stinky head, whispering I love you, have a great day, and seeing them rush off. 

2. Schools remind me of the time when I was in a parent-teacher association (PIBG) years ago. This was my first experience being an ‘involved’ member of a diverse community in Petaling Jaya. 

We did something unique back then. 

Apart from acknowledging top students overall, and by specific subjects, during term-end graduation ceremonies, we introduced a new category – the most improved students. These are kids who typically obtain a D in Bahasa, or a C- in Maths for example, and out of sheer perseverance and hard work, improved their grades to be a B, or a B+. We decided to celebrate these successes, these turnarounds. 

3. I wish you could see how those kids, who would otherwise be a spectator in such ceremonies throughout their primary school years, beam with pride and excitement when they make their way to the stage to receive their certificate and prizes. For most of them, this was their first time being on stage to receive an award! 

I wish you could also see how their parents in the crowd, who would otherwise not attend these graduation events, shed tears of joy. To them, this was a major event. And this was their first, too. Sometimes they were joined by their child’s siblings, uncles, grandparents, and neighbours. The whole gang. Such was the significance of this recognition. The most improved student. 

And I wish you could hear how the school hall erupted with claps and cheers when these kids took to the stage. How the teachers who played a major role in these magnificent achievements smiled ear to ear, shed tears, and jumped with joy; emotions rolled into one, when their student’s name was read out. Amazingly inspiring teachers. 

Who would have thought that such a small gesture from the school – a certificate, a stationery set, and occasionally a school bag – could be that impactful. I do not know how to describe it but somehow, back then, in that school, we found a way to recognise both outcome and effort. We somehow managed to tailor those rewards. It was situational. Targeted. 

And it worked. Most of the kids continued showing good progress following the award. 

4. When I was tasked with running USM, one of the first things we did was to look at the average monthly pay of our academics based on their affiliation to their respective Academic School or Centre of Excellence for research, or collectively referred to as centres of responsibility (PTj).  

What we found was that there was a gulf in pay between our academics, with those from sciences generally earning twice as much compared to their non-sciences colleagues. Similarly, the rate of promotion for the sciences outpaces those from non-sciences. In quarterly reports, where typical outcomes and outputs – publications, citations, grants – were plotted against PTjs, those from the sciences would appear in the top right-hand corner of the graphs, while the non-sciences will be lumped at the bottom left. 

In quarterly reporting sessions in USM, the same group of PTjs would be recognised as best in overall performance, or best for a particular parameter, all the time. The rest will be mere (disgruntled) spectators. 

This had to change. 
And we did something unique.   

5. In 2021, USM empowered PTjs to set their own annual targets. There was no instruction or set targets from the Top Management. A zero top down policy.  

This allowed PTjs to focus on their forte and excel in what they are good in. This was situational and targeted.  

Some PTjs are good in delivering technical publications. Some are good in copyrights, in producing books and book chapters, while others are good in services, income generation, industrial relations, community engagements, and graduate employability. 

In quarterly reporting sessions, we introduced more parameters, resulting in more graphs, where the monotony of the same PTjs occupying the right-hand corners all the time was broken. Now, everyone finds themselves in the top right-hand corner in some graphs. Everyone’s efforts and outcomes were recognised. And we celebrated the most improved PTjs. 

Zero top down was a risky move and yet, to our great surprise, USM’s 2021 and 2022 performances far exceeded that of 2020 when a more conventional top-down approach was adopted. Alhamdulillah. 

6. We did not stop there. 

We embarked on a series of engagements and intense discussions to come up with several promotion criteria in our effort to acknowledge diversity in academia – junior academics, senior academics, service oriented ones like clinicians, performance based ones like our artists in the school of arts, those working on translating manuscripts, on producing policy papers, on lab-based research, on experiential and action-research, those who are passionate teachers who embrace new pedagogies and technologies, those who led NGOs and watchdogs, or who are active in their own knowledge fraternities. To this end, we have introduced promotion criteria for the clinical track, the teaching track, the leadership track, the humanities track, and the performing arts track, to complement the standard research track. 

And we continue to recognise different forms of academic excellence. We commissioned a group of academics to introduce a rubric for social progress assessment, meant to measure impact, which would form 30% of the assessment weightage. 

7. These are by no means perfect. They are work in progress, and the details are in the implementation. But early indicators show that these initiatives are bearing fruits. 

The average success rate for the non-sciences in a single promotion exercise has improved tremendously, and in some cases, exceeded those of the sciences. We are narrowing the pay gap, and the University excels across the board – finance, research, teaching, industry relations, commercialisation, and many more. We are truly collective in our efforts, and we are fast moving towards being a more equitable institution. 

8. And a strong and just academic institution is key to our Tanahair’s progress. 

I wish you could see how some USM folks beamed with pride when we witness our massive turnarounds. 

And I wish you could feel the place buzzing with positivity and enthusiasm when you step into USM. 

9. But most importantly, I wish we could witness those kids, those most improved kids, going on to become upstanding citizens of our beloved Tanahair, and that institutions like USM played an impactful role in their lives, like those amazing teachers back then. Their efforts have been rewarded and I hope ours would follow suit inshaaAllah.