Should Public Universities Recruit Only PhDs?

In the past, the minimum academic qualification for employment as a junior lecturer at the University of Malaya has been a masters degree in the relevant field of study. Young scholars with masters degrees were attracted to joined the University partly because of the prospect of obtaining a full PhD scholarship (from the University) upon confirmation as a permanent staff.

While this arrangement has attracted some bright young academics, it has also resulted in academic staff who remained with the university without completing their doctorate. The latter included those who were given full scholarships to pursue their doctoral studies but failed to do so. This clearly compromised the University's effort to further enhance and upgrade its graduate programmes (taught by PhDs) as well as its research profile. The ranking of the University was also probably affected - as the proportion of academic staff with PhDs is often used as a variable in ranking and accreditation exercises.

Recently it is reported that the University of Malaya has adopted a policy of recruiting only people with PhD for entry level academic appointments. Of course, such a policy is not new to many universities. A "PhD only" recruitment policy is in fact the norm at most universities abroad, particularly in more developed countries. However, it can argued that the implementation of such a policy may not be wise move for several reasons if additional reforms are not carried out.

To begin with, the current salary levels at public universities are not sufficiently high to attract those who have obtained their PhD from universities abroad. Obtaining a PhD degree abroad is an expensive affair. Even if most PhD abroad are not privately self-financed (which I believe is the case), most scholars with such degrees are likely to seek financial returns beyond what public universities can offer. If this is true, implementing a "PhD only" recruitment policy will only solicit applications from PhD graduates from local universities. Such a policy will only deprive our public universities (i.e. those implementing such policies) of people with PhDs from good universities abroad.

This is not to say that local PhDs are not as good as those abroad. However, while good scholars may thrive regardless of where they obtained their PhD, doctoral students abroad have a greater chance of early exposure to top-class doctoral education as well as the opportunity to develop international research networks (which is crucial for academic publications).

If the "Phd Only" policy is sub-optimal, can we tweak the existing system for a better outcome?
The previous system of recruiting new junior-level academic staff with a minimum of masters degree can work provided new incentive mechanisms are incorporated. New entry-level academic staff should be employed on a contract basis and be given full scholarships (with service bond) for pursuing PhD abroad at reputable universities. However, only those who have completed their doctoral studies should be hired as permanent faculty members. At the same time, universities should also consider hiring outstanding PhDs from local universities when such candidates are available. In addition, to ensure new PhDs continue to be research active, an academic tenure system can be implemented. Under such a system, only junior-level staff with sufficiently strong publications record be confirmed in service. Such reforms are also consistent with the Ninth Malaysia Plan allocation for training more PhDs for Malaysia's public universities.