Ivory Tower Reform

Author: Sharifah Munirah Alatas, Muhammad Adli Musa, Ngo Sheau Shi
Publisher: SIRD
ISBN: 9786297575551
Weight: 0.4kg
Pages: 299 pages
Year: 2025
Price: RM55

Ivory Tower Reform: A Vision for Higher Education in Malaysia is a bold and urgent exploration of Malaysia's academic landscape, chronicling decades of critique, resistance, and calls for university reform. Drawing from hundreds of media statements, seminar reports and public interventions over more than three decades, this book highlights the painstaking work of The Malaysian Academic Movement (Pergerakan Tenaga Akademik Malaysia) or Gerak.

Ivory Tower Reform dissects the structural decay, political entanglements, and ideological conflicts that have shaped Malaysian universities since independence. With clarity and conviction, the authors unpack the tensions between academic freedom and state control, exposing how global pressures, neoliberal metrics, and internal political dynamics have undermined the integrity of higher education in Malaysia. More than just a critique, the book offers a holistic, historically grounded, and deeply human call for educational transformation-one rooted in justice, autonomy, sustainability, and inclusivity.

Accessible yet rigorous, this work is essential for scholars, policymakers, educators, and any Malaysian invested in reclaiming the university as a vital space for thought, change, and social purpose.