What was I Trying to Do?
Even today (I left SASS four years ago) I get
comments like “SASS is a really interesting school,
interesting staff and research”. This was my guiding
philosophy when I was Head – I tried hard to
encourage research in areas where Malaysian public
universities were holding back, and always recruited
staff with interesting backgrounds. I knew that
SASS staff were great researchers, I only needed
the “protect” them from the bureaucracy for them
to flourish! I remembered in one particular year, the
output of academic publications from SASS was
higher than many other schools in the Faculty of Arts.
The area where I was less successful was in the
recruitment of foreign staff. From day one, I wanted a
minimum of fifty per cent of the academic staff to be
non-Malaysians. It was important to me that SASS
was truly an international enterprise. I was unable to
do so because we were, in most cases, unable to
match the compensation packages these candidates
were after. In many cases, they could not understand
that the package we were offering was probably the
highest among private universities in Malaysia, and
that this was a great opportunity for someone who
was interested in Southeast Asia to be based in the
region to get some first-hand experience. I never
expected them to stay at Monash University Malaysia
for the long term.
The Best Thing
The best thing was the students. The majority of the
SASS students were students who really wanted
an Arts degree. They were interested in the world
around them. They were interested in understanding
Presenting SASS Best Student Awards (2009). ▶
Things I didn’t like
Top of the list is of course the bureaucracy and
red-tape. Monash University is a big organisation
with multiple campuses around the world so you
can imagine what it’s like to deal with the red-tape.
Monash Malaysia, due to its unique partnership with
the Sunway Education Group and the Jeffrey Cheah
Foundation added another dimension. I remember
other Heads of Schools having difficulties, especially
on financial issues, but I never had any real problems
dealing with the key decision-makers. Sure, I had to
lobby for things I wanted but I take that as part and
parcel of my job. I always understood, from day one,
Monash University Malaysia was a hybrid organisation
– it was a private Australian university operating in
Malaysia. It was not an Australian university nor a
Malaysian university.
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The other thing I was clear was the need for SASS
to have strong engagement outside the university. All
the top social science institutions around the world
have staff who are active in the community. After all, a
good social scientist is not one who only knows how
to publish in academic journals but one who is actively
involved in making this world a better place for all of
us. Hence almost all of the SASS staff have a strong
presence in the community, especially in the CSOs
(Community-based Organisations).
why and how societies work and making the world
a better place for all. SASS students were easily the
most interesting lot on campus if we compare them to
business or engineering students!
Despite this, I think for the most part, Monash
University Malaysia remains the most successful
example of how branch campuses can work – offering
high quality education away from the home country.
The SASS graduates are the living proof of this
proposition.
I should end here by saying that one of the most
difficult things I had to deal with was the sudden death
of Benjamin Mackay. Ben was a well-liked colleague
and his sudden passing had a real impact on all of us.
James Chin was Head of the School of Arts & Social
Sciences from 2008 to 2014. He is currently inaugural
Director of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania.
The SASS Staff Retreat
in Port Dickson (2012). ▼