Programme Administration

In order to establish interest in science among students, and increase the pool of potential human capital in science, the key informants listed their long-term aspirations for the programme. These incorporated funding, talent search and the overall focus of programme improvement.

Funding is the most important driver to attract potential and interested students from all over the nation to participate. As was mentioned in the interviews, “I hope there is an increased budget allocation from the Ministry for science research based competitions each year, as I want to see more involvement from the rural schools in Malaysia,” (N, Q1-M). This interviewee also hoped for increased financial support from the community, independent organisations and other agencies. With financial support, more opportunities and facilities can be made possible for all. This is in line with a response made by one of the independent organisers:

“Taiwan runs it well; they give lots of exposure to their potential students especially in innovation competitions. They are granted a

special grant from their government (Ministry of Science) and are well supported by their local scientists in the universities. They in fact have their several [of their] own league of science competitions. They have sent their winners to various kinds of science competition around the world. Only the best amongst those who compete will be representing Taiwan to the Intel ISEF each year”, (M, Q1-A).

This claim was checked and verified. The Taiwanese 2009 report states that Taiwan started to participate in innovation and engineering competitions in 1982. From 1982 to 2008, 51% of their projects won Grand Awards at ISEF. They incorporate two main support systems; universities and research institutions, and government initiatives. Both of these have been actively involved in providing laboratory equipment and resources, running a mentorship programme, conducting an international science fair, and organising high-school science research programmes and science project workshops for students and teachers. The government subsidizes the students‟ research and acknowledges the projects by accepting the project work into their international science fair board. Furthermore, they guarantee university admission for ISEF grant award winners and recommend university admission for non-winners. Scholarships were also awarded to grant award winners to attend prestige overseas universities (Intel, 2009). According to a follow-up study of the ISEF Finalists from Taiwan;

i. all former winners have remained in science, engineering or medical disciplines, either working as research scientists or engineers, or studying as PhD/MSc/BSc candidates with a science major;

ii. winners have out-numbered the percentage of non-winners in attending graduate programmes, pursuing doctoral degrees, selecting academic careers and publishing research papers; and

iii. Taiwanese ISEF finalists portray certain personality traits, such as a passion for science, curiosity and persistence in tackling challenging problems. (Fung, 2006)

The serious focus on science and technology shown by the Taiwanese government, especially in respect of the growth of science literacy amongst young people in Taiwan, is clearly shown by a statement made by the Prime Minister of Taiwan, Liu Chao-shiuan, in 2008: “We hope to inspire more foundations and corporations to be sponsors for the science fair” (Intel, 2009).

The key informants‟ aspirations revealed in the interviews in regard to the need for additional funding for the Malaysian programme are considered to be entirely reasonable because, since 2000, there has been an increase of interest amongst students in science research although the opportunities given have remained the same. The growth of science interest and the increase in opportunities do not expand in tandem due to the lack of funding: “the [Malaysian] government should give more grants to this type of competition,” (N, Q1-A). Furthermore, a variety of activities involving industrial experiences should be added accordingly:

“We [Malaysia] do not have lots of projects that are related to industry which interest the sponsors. What we are doing is to involve more real experience for the youngsters [as an introduction] into the real world of industry and technology”, (N, Q1-C).

The search for talent has been the biggest challenge for teachers. Without knowing what skills are needed, what challenges will face the students and what strategies will be involved, the teachers would be likely to misdirect the talent they find. With no research background, students aged from fifteen to seventeen rely on their teachers‟ guidance for the research skills that they need in order to participate. According to the Ministry officer, “Teachers‟ commitment and school management play a major role in winning projects”. This is found to be a sensible observation as the records show that the winning teams usually come from the same schools with particular mentors. The teachers are the ones who push the projects (M, Q5-A) thus contributing to the development of the students‟ talent. Therefore, the teachers need to be given more skills in how to conduct research and run a systematic programme

in schools. They should be exposed to many idea-sharing sessions, especially on their experiences as teachers (N, Q1-M). Full and appropriate training on current science issues and the techniques available would be considered an investment in yielding potential projects and talents.

With the expansion of interest and of the numbers of participants in the programme, the MOE monitoring mechanism should be more focused. Relying solely on one person to coordinate and run the show across the nation is absurd: “The programmes need to be more focused and there should be more key persons in MOE who are in charge in this kind of theme” (N, Q1- A). It is believed that the more key officers there are in the MOE, the more focus there would be on the programme. More interest in science research and innovation would be generated and monitored. The focus on conducting and organising science research competitions is essential according to the needs of Vision 2020. The aspirations of the supporting organisations are aimed at stirring up interest, identifying potential, developing talent and also hoping for related progress of the students after accomplishing the programme. With a more structured organisation, the programme would be more focused and therefore more beneficial to national development.