LETTER: It is common knowledge that funding universities are a costly affair.
The cash flow from the government is perpetual and continuous. Universities, on their part, try not to be too dependent on taxpayers' money.
Their sources of income are generally from the tuition fees and monies from consultancy services. The costs of staff emoluments and infrastructure maintenance and development usually exceed the limited income mentioned above.
Ivy League institutions, such as Harvard University and Yale University, have their own innovative ways to generate income. Through aggressive initiatives, they have sizeable endowment funds that are derived largely from their rich and generous alumni. Our public universities should emulate them.
For those universities, which have been in existence for more than half a century, the wealth in the hands of their large pool of alumni must be very sizeable. Some have become captains of industry while others are business tycoons.
They are more than willing to donate to their alma mater if asked by the top echelons of their respective university. The attachment between alumni and alma mater is usually tight and lifelong. When I was part of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's (UKM) Alumni Relations Office, my colleagues and I were not shy to approach wealthy alumni.
We drove to Penang to meet them. They were more than ready to meet us and donated RM40,000. They took us out for lunch and were happy to tell us of their good times at the university. They felt honoured to be approached.
Take UKM, for example, with nearly 190,000 alumni in Malaysia. If a large portion of them each pledge a sum of RM100 to UKM annually, the sum collected will be sizeable.
Every alumnus would like to see their beloved alma mater grow from strength to strength, not beset with problems, financial or otherwise.
DR KOH AIK KHOON
Alumni, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times