Prof. Dr. Azlan Ab. Rahman has shared a book as shown in the figure about what others have said about the soul of academia or university.
Harry R. Lewis wrote his book in 2006 entitled “Excellence without a soul: How a great university forgot education”.
He was a former Dean of Harvard College who was working for more than thirty years, argued that a school’s mission cannot be compromised at the mercy of consumerism and competition, driven decision-making regarding course content and grading.
He insisted that science (general education) and philosophy (values) cannot be separated or each will surely lose the potential depth of meaning. The synergy between religious faith and academic matters must be done for cohesive identity development as well. When the concept of integration is woven in the institutions, the quality implementation is harder to assess.
Another book entitled “Revitalizing the Soul of Higher Learning” who was written by Zaini Ujang, our former Vice Chancellor that was published in 2013. This book was suggested by Prof. Dr. Azlan Ab. Rahman.
The main important points including on what had transpired in UTM on the soul of academia as follows:
strive and attempt to constantly enhance the levels of motivation, academic excellence, ability to implement, technical skills and management skills;
do not expect too much short term rewards and interests. The best reward is an eternal one;
have faith that the best contributions and good deeds are in the form of: (a) Specific good deeds: Tangible Key Amal Indicator (KAI) i.e. publications, research, Intellectual property, or (b) General good deeds: Intangible KAI e.g. teamwork, knowledge culture, integrity, passion, entrepreneurship, etc;
do not blow own trumpet following a success;
look for ways and opportunities proactively to make contributions and offer the best services, instead of making excuses;
use the KAI as an important instrument to steer individual activities to be in tandem; and
KAI should not be misinterpreted or viewed from a quantitative angle, which led to performing daily tasks in a quantitative manner, being too calculative, forgetting spirits of volunteerism, solidarity, and sincerity, which cannot be equated in numerical indicators.
Let’s share a thought regarding on the soul of academia or university. I’m sharing a brief summary from a book written by Chris Brink, published on July 24, 2018. This book was recommended by Prof. Dr. Azlan Ab. Rahman.
This book is one of advocacy whereby it is a set of academic considerations based on the soul of a university. In a post-truth society, we need to keep up the search for truth and understanding, but we need to do so with a better insight of why we are doing it, and a clear commitment that academic excellence must respond to the challenges facing civil society.
In an age of global uncertainty and instability or known as fractured world, we are required to combat isolationism with the simple truth that your problem will no longer stop at my border, nor mine at yours. It is up to us to demonstrate that the world can still benefit from wandering scholars.
