Academia, put your finger on the pulse of the Nation 2

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An interesting article here today. Among other, it says,
"QS, a global education consultancy, commented last year that Malaysian universities continue to produce unproductive research with little industrial or real life use even if their ranks improved."

Commentary:

Reacting to the article above, we discussed ways and means for a  researcher to be better informed of the needs of industry and doing impactful research for society.

My suggestions to fellow academicians. Open up. We tend to lock ourselves in our rooms, tweaking òur research for the next quality paper.  Instead, we need to put our fingers on the society's pulse. Browse social media, keep up with news and trend. Dont dismiss these as time wasting. Dont exclude entertainments and creative works, watch movies, read fictions, because these often reflect the psyche of the society. Dont rely on academic journals for the latest buzz in the industry. Attend seemingly irrelevant meetings with outsiders, for you never know, opportunities may come in disguises.

One faculty we often neglect that is intuitive judgement. Be wholesome. Celebrate our sentiments, dreams and passion. We will be like radar picking up societies desires and fears. Only then we are able to direct our research towards something meaningful and impactful to them.

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