Achieving excellence in academic work practices: The experience of Malaysian distinguished professors

Abstract

To achieve its vision to become a world-class provider for higher education in Asia Pacific, the Malaysian higher education has introduced a systematic strategic plan to develop a culture of academic excellence. Accordingly, a new position, namely a distinguished professor has been introduced as the highest position in the academic career. It is expected that an academic recognised as a distinguished professor projects excellent work practice. So far, there have been only three distinguished professors in Malaysia. Hence, this study aimed to profile the excellent work practices among the distinguished professors framed within Malaysian higher education promotion system. This study adopted a multiple case study consisting of three case studies represented by each distinguished professor. The main source of data collection was the face-to-face interview, which is complemented by written responses from the respondents and document analysis. This study found that all the three distinguished professors achieve excellent performance in all the five promotion assessment categories, which are the teaching and supervision, research and publication, academic recognition and leadership, services for the university and society, and consultation and partnership with the industry. It can be concluded that the identities of Malaysian professors are characterized by the local and global imperatives as they are shaped by not only the specific agenda of the country but also the global trend. Issues related to achieving excellent in work practice were also highlighted. Thus, this paper provides guidance for young academics pursuing for professorship to strategize their career pathway in the higher education sector.