Hadina Habil

Stereotyping in Graduate Education: An Insight of Women's Participation in Malaysia

An equal access to the higher education in terms of gender has been successfully promoted in Malaysia. An increasing number of women succeeded in having secured places and graduating from local private and public universities in this country. This shows that more and more women have gone through higher education, and a significant number of them are now holding high posts both in the private and the public sectors. This is the result of various government policies n human capital development. Consequently, the previously ‘denied’ right of women to higher education because of gender is now a history in this country and more women are pursuing graduate education. This paper attempts to analyze an involvement of women in higher education in Malaysia with particular reference to graduate study in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The study shows an increasing interest and access to programs related to sciences and technical field by women, as opposed to the art and education which were previously associated with women. This trend signals a positive development of women’s involvement in higher education in preparing knowledgeable human resources to the nation, and thus provides a strong support to the women empowering strategy in Malaysia.

External quality audits and quality assurance in the higher education sector: the Malaysian perspective

Abstract: This chapter analyses the extent to which Malaysian universities have responded to the pressing call towards enhancing institutional quality audits. It outlines Malaysia’s progress towards managing quality assurance in the higher education sector. The Malaysian Qualifications Framework is presented and the role of the public and private universities in academic quality audits is examined. The drivers of and limitations to institutional quality audits are discussed. Can academic quality audits contribute to improving the training of the human capital that Malaysia needs in order to remain globally competitive?

Nursing as a Global Career: Meeting the Challenges of the Profession from a Language for Specific Purposes LSP Perspective

In todays global environment, the nursing profession is regarded as a noble, challenging and competitive profession. Malaysian trained nurses are highly in demand due to their training and on-going efforts are made to ensure that the standards are well-maintained. This paper describes a part of a larger study. It reports the findings of a study pertaining to the needs of English language communication skills for nurses in a private hospital in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. The study focused on the needs of English language communication skills at the workplace. These skills were written and spoken English communication, reading, listening, and interpersonal communication. By identifying these communicative competency needs, the study has given insights into helping the nurses to increase their work performance, meet their work demands and help the employability of the nurses globally.

The Structure of Clinical Consultation: A Case of Non-Native Speakers of English as Participants

Background: In many parts of the world, patients may find it difficult to visit doctors who share the same language and culture due to the intermingling of people and international recruitment of doctors among many other reasons. In these multilingual multicultural settings (MMSs), doctor-patient interactions face new communication challenges. This study aims to identify the structure of clinical consultation and its phases in an MMS where both doctors and patients are non-native speakers (NNSs) of English. Method: This study takes on a discourse analytic approach to examine the structure of clinical consultation as an activity type. 25 clinical consultation sessions between non-native speakers of English in a public healthcare centre in Malaysia were audio-recorded. Findings and Discussion: The results show that there are some deviations from the mainstream structure of clinical consultations although, in general, the pattern is compatible with previous studies. Deviations are particularly marked in the opening and closing phases of consultation. Conclusion: In almost all interactions, there is a straightforward manner of beginning medical consultations. The absence of greetings may have naturally reduced the length of talk. Hence, by directly entering medical talks, the doctors voice their concern on the curing aspects of the consultation rather than its caring facets. The preference of curing priority to caring is more goal-oriented and in alignment with the consultation as an activity type.

Student feedback in higher education: a Malaysian perspective

Abstract: This chapter analyses how student feedback was used as one of the programme evaluation methods in Malaysia and the extent to which Malaysian universities have reacted to the call to enhance the quality of their academic programmes. The Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education is currently putting demands on the universities to perform competently in their core business of teaching and learning. Undeniably, universities are committed to improving the educational experience they provide, and thus student evaluations of their course experience are a critical component in attaining the information to guide improvement. The chapter poses the following questions: What progress has been recorded and what limitations have been experienced with regard to the implementation of student evaluations in Malaysian universities? Has there been any resistance from faculty members? Can the Malaysian tertiary sector deliver the institutional quality improvement expected by the stakeholders?