The National Council of Professors (MPN) revealed today that due to cuts on Budget 2016, the Federal Government terminated the employment contracts of 156 college and university professors aged between 61 and 70 years old across the country.
MPN CEO Dr Raduan Che Rose said the terminations were especially painful because most professors do not reach that rank until their mid-50s.
“To attain the distinction of being a professor, one needs to go through a long and arduous process before they are acknowledged by their academic peers,” he said, according to The Malay Mail Online.
“But now, just as some of them have become tenured professors, they’re being let go. We ask that the Federal Government do more to raise up the country’s academic sector.”
Bahasa Malaysia-language daily Kosmo! reports that there are currently 2,254 professors working in Malaysia, with 1,867 of them serving in public universities.
Raduan insists that the terms of civil employment imposed on academics should not be the same as that of other civil servants, and urged Putrajaya to extend the retirement age of professors to 65 years, to be in line with international standards.
“A professor only truly comes into their own in their 60s, when they can contribute the most to Malaysia’s academic sector.
“Professors should be placed under the auspices of the Higher Education Services Commission, and not lumped together under the Civil Service Commission.”
