TIME is money.
This was indeed the point that a guest lecturer was trying to make when highlighting Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s (UKM) less than professional attitude in dealing with external parties.
According to chemical engineer-turned-skincare enthusiast Sarini Zainal (@sarinizainal), she had been invited to give a talk on a specific programme.
However, the Pastel Shop CEO groused on X that she had experienced no less than 10 postponements by UKM with a myriad of excuses ranging from absent lecturers to examinations with little or no regard for her busy schedule.
Stating that she had been asked to pick a date but was constantly moved forward again, thus ignoring the difficulty for her in arranging her tight schedule.
Kecewa dengan UKM.
Dari November, jemput bagi talk satu program. Kita dahlah busy, mereka postpone lebih 10 kali kot dengan alasan pensyarah cuti, exam dll.
Dia suruh pilih tarikh, kita bagi tarikh dia tukar pulak. Tahu tak betapa susahnya nak susun jadual?
Last2 move ke…
— Sarini Zainal (@sarinizainal) January 7, 2025
Lastly, the event was scheduled to take place this month and she was excitedly awaiting the big date. Alas, she then received an e-mail simply notifying her that another guest speaker had been found. No further explanation was proffered.
Unable to contain her frustration at the rudeness and wanton disregard for a person’s time and effort, the poster has pulled the plug on UKM sponsorship.
The skincare products entrepreneur hopes that both parties learn valuable lessons from this incident.
Her post has since gone viral,generating 1.1M views as she contended that her inbox has now become a de facto complaints department with others sharing their unpleasant experiences of dealing with UKM.
She shared one episode whereby international guests were also left to present a talk to their own party.
No students were present and only four lecturers were in attendance, underlining UKM’s unprofessionalism when it comes to representing their institution and – by extension – their nation.
Referring to the above episode, one netizen pointed out that a conference at institutions of higher learning were important events. He surmised that perhaps UKM was merely attempting to fulfill its annual KPI (key performance indicator).
Some couldn’t hide their delight at the poster’s decision to withdraw sponsorship for UKM.
One commenter pointed out that UKM’s conduct was reflective of selfish and thoughtless staff who did not value time and effort put in by others. He opined that UKM staff must think that others merely “sat around shaking their legs”.
One netizen noted that this could be UKM’s modus operandi as it seeks cheaper (or FREE) alternatives with numerous postponements designed to frustrate the original speaker.
Some couldn’t hide their delight at the poster’s decision to withdraw UKM’s sponsorship.
This post by Sarini highlights the declining standards of local varsities. From bogus research papers to false claims by senior academics, the reputation of these institutions are taking a beating on both mainstream and social media.
Add in students’ constant complaints about these universities’ high-handed approach on dress codes seem to indicate they are more concerned about hemlines than academic pursuits such as the conferences highlighted above.
For now, it appears the wasting of time of others can be added to these institutions’ list of specialties. – Jan 8, 2025