STRUCTURAL PRESSURES ON LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE EDUCATION IN MALAYSIA: A DIAGNOSTIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

Library and Information Science (LIS) education in Malaysia operates within a higher education system that faces a set of structural challenges serious enough to limit its capacity for meaningful reform. This paper provides a systematic diagnostic analysis of eight structural pressures that have accumulated within the Malaysian LIS higher education context: outdated programme standards, a constrained academic expert pool, narrow industry representation in advisory processes, assessment complexity under outcome-based education, internship placement constraints, weak postgraduate demand, limited professional regulatory influence, and challenging student intake dynamics. Drawing on a critical practitioner inquiry methodology grounded in the author's sustained engagement with Malaysian LIS higher education as a programme auditor, academic dean, and advisory board member at national and state library level, the paper goes beyond identifying these pressures individually to analyse how they interact and reinforce each other as a systemic condition. The analysis reveals that the eight pressures are not independent problems amenable to isolated fixes but form an interlocking system in which the weaknesses of each element amplify the others. The paper identifies the revision of the MQA Programme Standards as the most leveraged single intervention, since it creates the regulatory space within which the other structural reforms become possible. The findings have direct implications for LIS programme leaders, quality assurance bodies, professional associations, and policymakers responsible for the long-term health of the information profession in Malaysia.