M'sia mulls raising retirement age of university professors
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BANGI - Malaysia's Higher Education Ministry will consider reviewing the retirement age for professors in public universities, said Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh. “We will look into this,” he said.
It was reported that the National Council of Professors (MPN) had urged the Government to review the retirement age from 60 to 65 in line with international practices.
MPN chief executive officer Prof Datuk Dr Raduan Che Rose said that increasing the retirement age can help professors contribute to the country’s academic sector.
“Based on MPN’s profile, more than half of professors are now aged around 55 and they have only five years to serve and contribute their specialisation to the country.
“It is a long process for a person to become a professor as they need to be recognised through their specialisation.
“We cannot accept the loss of specialists in the higher education section. We urge the Government to prioritise efforts of improving the academic sector of the country,” he said.
The report added that Raduan said an estimated RM3mil was spent on an individual to become a professor hence proactive measures were needed by the Government to ensure that talents and specialists were not wasted.
When asked to comment on claims by MPN that the contracts of 156 professors in public universities aged between 61 and 70 were not renewed due to budget cuts by the ministry for public universities, Idris said that the ministry would be meeting with the relevant parties to discuss the matter next week.
He was speaking to reporters after launching the book Intisari Sejarah Mexico Baharu (New Compact History of Mexico), a Bahasa Malaysia version of Nueva Historia Minimum De Mexico at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) here yesterday.
