REPOSITORY SYSTEM FOR
              TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN MALAYSIA




                            Chapter 1: Introduction
This research project presents a solution involved in repository systemsprojects that aim to

improve humans, education and environment. It considers the option of using repository

systems to improve the educational quality in Malaysia.          The aim is to develop a

repository data centre to assist the tertiary institutions in monitoring the performance of

students in many geographical areas in this country Malaysia. This research will pave a

way for accurate budgeting, forecasting on educational sector and highlight ways to

improve educational quality and performance in the country. This forms the basis of

building a Repository System for Tertiary Institutions in educational environment with

specific reference to Malaysia.


1.1         Education

Education is not only the process of impacting or acquiring general or specific knowledge

but is also the tendency of building capacity or powers for reasoning and judgement and

act of preparing oneself or others intellectually to mature life (Longman, 2010). Many

people always view schools in a traditional and formal sense. There is no definitive

definition of education, many think that education occurs in different forms and

environment while some think that education only take place in the class or lecture room.

Definition of education may differ from one person or the other, but education can be

intuitively defined as a basic human right. It is believed that when this right is permitted,
growth and development is rapidly seen in the society to constitute to good living

standard.


There are many issues surrounding education such as inadequate of resources, poor

founding, etc. It is the obligation of the people, group andgovernment to critically think

about these issues confronting education and eventually come up with a better solution to

improve education in the world. In 1990, UNESCO launched Education for All (EFA)

(Ann, 2009);the movement to provide quality education for all children, youths and adults

by the year 2015. It is unfortunate that in most of the countries, there are many issues that

are preventing the improvement of the quality of education which therefore questions if

the objectives of UNESCO towards EFA can be realized or not.


One of the commonest ways to deal with the above mention problem lies in the access

towards technology. It is an indisputable fact that access to technology can serve as a great

tool for education. When one fails to access this tool, he or she suffers behind. So

education as we have seen does not only promote individual development, rather it offers

the general growth of the entire community, therefore providing a place for people to

interact, socialize and unify the society.


1.2         Education in Malaysia

Malaysia a multi-ethnic society country located in the tropics of Southeast Asia. With the

great ambition to become a developed Nation by 2020, many developments are putting

Malaysia on the world’s map as she focuses on becoming a knowledge base economy

country. In order to ensure educational quality and standard, Malaysian government in

1995 to 1997 initiated major educational reforms by establishing a legislative body to

oversee all the levels of education, from the pre-school to tertiary education,

<http://www.mpm.edu.my>. At the same time, Pre School to secondary education is
under the supervision of the Ministry of Education (MOE), while the post-secondary

education is put under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE).

Malaysia has become a centre of educational excellence especially in the South East Asia,

which is motivated by the effort of the government in seeing educational excellence as its

responsibility to better citizenry and the country as a whole, <http://www.mpm.edu.my>.

According to the Minister of Higher Education, Datuk Mustapha Mohamed in 2007, he

said “Our vision is to make Malaysia the centre of educational excellence”. Malaysia is

not relenting in realizing this vision as targeted by 2015.


1.3         Tertiary Education in Malaysia
In Malaysia there are 647 High Education Institution (HEI). This consists of 20 public

universities and 627 higher education institutions (Ken, 2010).


1.4         Definition of Repository System

A repository systemmay be defined as a centralized system where data is collected, stored,

retrieved, disseminated and maintained which can be access by multiple users locally or

remotely    (Mikeal,    2009).    A    repository    system   can   be    a   place   where

multiple databases or files are located for distribution over a network or a location that is

directly accessible to the users without having to travel across a network (Mikeal,

2009).Furthermore, a full-fledged repository system is on principle a database

management system (DBMS) with some special functionality to administer meta-data

(Herbst, 1995). This includes the capability to specify meta-models, to customize the user

interface, and to implement appropriate verification mechanisms and generators.


1.5         Problem Statement

In Malaysia, higher education is generally seen as a major foundation in implementing the

complex process of globalization. It is certainly known that the advent of globalization,
advanced information technology and higher education services have already been

expanding beyond territorial especially in educational environment (Arokiasamy, 2010).


Open access or in other words, information sharing has been widely encouraged in

Malaysia especially in tertiary institutions. One of the greatest champions in the open

access here in Malaysia is the libraries and Librarian. They initiated the promotion of

access to information by implementing an institutional repository (Azmi, 2009).The

Malaysian National Library is aimed to implement a repository of information resources

based on bibliographic and non-bibliographic records of libraries (Azmi, 2009).


According to Azmi (2009), there have been initiative to promote the access of information

by implementing an institutional repository; but there have not been a repository system

implemented to focus on the intellectual performance of student in tertiary institutions in

Malaysia. It is clear fact that developing such system will ensure the following benefits:


Repository system for tertiary institution does not only boost the quality of educational

system, it goes far to contribute as a logical extension of a university’s or college’s core

mission and as a channel through which to increase institutional visibility.


The responsibility of communication between the MOHE and all the tertiary institutions

will be strengthen and positioning the tertiary institutions with broader context of its

markets or communities.


It is important to note that every higher institution is committed to academic excellence

and scientific progress. One may ask if there is any system to measure or prove this

assertion. The repository systems will not only answer this question but it will also provide

university administrators with demonstrable evidence of the institution’s quality, thus

helping every institution reinforce on institution’s brand position and prestige.
Repository technology system, by capturing, preserving, and disseminating institutional

collective intellectual information or records, serves as meaningful indicator of academic

quality and merit. Repository system is not only a desired technology for tertiary

institutions in Malaysia but it also present itself as a potential prediction tool for future

analysis of institutional goal or initiatives.


1.6          Research Objectives

The research objectives of the current study are:


       To assess the status of repository system in Malaysia, specifically in the relation to

                                         tertiary institutions.

         To design and develop a repository system for tertiary institutions in Malaysia.


1.7          Project Scope

This project aims to implement the repository system for tertiary institutions in Malaysia

that will be capable of carrying out different analysis and prediction services. An easy to

use user interface will be employed to ensure user friendly system to all users. The scope

also integrate business intelligent tool to produce different forms reports based on the

following:


Attendance of the students per semester or yearly basis for the benefit of visa

extension,etc. for international students. This report is mostly asked by the Immigration

Department during visa or passport renewal.


Performance of the student for educational quality purposes, rating and Key Performance

Indicator (KPI). The report from this session will directly go to MOHE.
Population of students based on different state in Malaysia or population of foreign

students from different countries studying in Malaysia. With the application of cubes

structure as one of the important tools used in multidimensional data warehousing,

information on any or group of students can be produced in given time range.


1.8         Organization of Thesis

Chapter 1: Introduction


This chapter provides overview of educational system in Malaysia specifically on the

tertiary institutions. The objectives and scope are also discussed in this chapter.


Chapter 2: Literature Review


The literature review for this research project gives the overview of repository system,

types of repository data, intelligent information and existence of repository systems around

the world. It also gives the methodology and implementation details used in some existing

repository systems.


Chapter 3: Methodology


This chapter discusses the research methodology used for this study, the data collection

and the method of data collection.


Chapter 4: Data Analysis


In this chapter, discussion is about data analysis. The data collected from tertiary

institutions were tabulated, analysed and discussed in details. It also analysed about

system review on repository system.
Chapter 5: System Analysis and Design


The system design is conferred in this chapter. Here Web Development Method (WSDM)

was used to carry out the design modeling. The Data Centre framework was discussed

with respect to the proposed framework and prototype of Repository System.The Data

Flow Diagram (DFD), activity diagram, database design, classes and function modules

were also discussed in this chapter.


Chapter 6: Implementation and Testing


In this chapter, the database, classes and function implementations were analysed. The

implementation of the repository system is narrated here; system testing which was done

by the same contributors who participated in survey questionnaire.




Chapter 7: Conclusion


The project result base on the objectives of this study wasdeliberated in this chapter. The

limitation and future work having considered the importance were also discussed here.

Repository system

  • 1.
    REPOSITORY SYSTEM FOR TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN MALAYSIA Chapter 1: Introduction This research project presents a solution involved in repository systemsprojects that aim to improve humans, education and environment. It considers the option of using repository systems to improve the educational quality in Malaysia. The aim is to develop a repository data centre to assist the tertiary institutions in monitoring the performance of students in many geographical areas in this country Malaysia. This research will pave a way for accurate budgeting, forecasting on educational sector and highlight ways to improve educational quality and performance in the country. This forms the basis of building a Repository System for Tertiary Institutions in educational environment with specific reference to Malaysia. 1.1 Education Education is not only the process of impacting or acquiring general or specific knowledge but is also the tendency of building capacity or powers for reasoning and judgement and act of preparing oneself or others intellectually to mature life (Longman, 2010). Many people always view schools in a traditional and formal sense. There is no definitive definition of education, many think that education occurs in different forms and environment while some think that education only take place in the class or lecture room. Definition of education may differ from one person or the other, but education can be intuitively defined as a basic human right. It is believed that when this right is permitted,
  • 2.
    growth and developmentis rapidly seen in the society to constitute to good living standard. There are many issues surrounding education such as inadequate of resources, poor founding, etc. It is the obligation of the people, group andgovernment to critically think about these issues confronting education and eventually come up with a better solution to improve education in the world. In 1990, UNESCO launched Education for All (EFA) (Ann, 2009);the movement to provide quality education for all children, youths and adults by the year 2015. It is unfortunate that in most of the countries, there are many issues that are preventing the improvement of the quality of education which therefore questions if the objectives of UNESCO towards EFA can be realized or not. One of the commonest ways to deal with the above mention problem lies in the access towards technology. It is an indisputable fact that access to technology can serve as a great tool for education. When one fails to access this tool, he or she suffers behind. So education as we have seen does not only promote individual development, rather it offers the general growth of the entire community, therefore providing a place for people to interact, socialize and unify the society. 1.2 Education in Malaysia Malaysia a multi-ethnic society country located in the tropics of Southeast Asia. With the great ambition to become a developed Nation by 2020, many developments are putting Malaysia on the world’s map as she focuses on becoming a knowledge base economy country. In order to ensure educational quality and standard, Malaysian government in 1995 to 1997 initiated major educational reforms by establishing a legislative body to oversee all the levels of education, from the pre-school to tertiary education, <http://www.mpm.edu.my>. At the same time, Pre School to secondary education is
  • 3.
    under the supervisionof the Ministry of Education (MOE), while the post-secondary education is put under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE). Malaysia has become a centre of educational excellence especially in the South East Asia, which is motivated by the effort of the government in seeing educational excellence as its responsibility to better citizenry and the country as a whole, <http://www.mpm.edu.my>. According to the Minister of Higher Education, Datuk Mustapha Mohamed in 2007, he said “Our vision is to make Malaysia the centre of educational excellence”. Malaysia is not relenting in realizing this vision as targeted by 2015. 1.3 Tertiary Education in Malaysia In Malaysia there are 647 High Education Institution (HEI). This consists of 20 public universities and 627 higher education institutions (Ken, 2010). 1.4 Definition of Repository System A repository systemmay be defined as a centralized system where data is collected, stored, retrieved, disseminated and maintained which can be access by multiple users locally or remotely (Mikeal, 2009). A repository system can be a place where multiple databases or files are located for distribution over a network or a location that is directly accessible to the users without having to travel across a network (Mikeal, 2009).Furthermore, a full-fledged repository system is on principle a database management system (DBMS) with some special functionality to administer meta-data (Herbst, 1995). This includes the capability to specify meta-models, to customize the user interface, and to implement appropriate verification mechanisms and generators. 1.5 Problem Statement In Malaysia, higher education is generally seen as a major foundation in implementing the complex process of globalization. It is certainly known that the advent of globalization,
  • 4.
    advanced information technologyand higher education services have already been expanding beyond territorial especially in educational environment (Arokiasamy, 2010). Open access or in other words, information sharing has been widely encouraged in Malaysia especially in tertiary institutions. One of the greatest champions in the open access here in Malaysia is the libraries and Librarian. They initiated the promotion of access to information by implementing an institutional repository (Azmi, 2009).The Malaysian National Library is aimed to implement a repository of information resources based on bibliographic and non-bibliographic records of libraries (Azmi, 2009). According to Azmi (2009), there have been initiative to promote the access of information by implementing an institutional repository; but there have not been a repository system implemented to focus on the intellectual performance of student in tertiary institutions in Malaysia. It is clear fact that developing such system will ensure the following benefits: Repository system for tertiary institution does not only boost the quality of educational system, it goes far to contribute as a logical extension of a university’s or college’s core mission and as a channel through which to increase institutional visibility. The responsibility of communication between the MOHE and all the tertiary institutions will be strengthen and positioning the tertiary institutions with broader context of its markets or communities. It is important to note that every higher institution is committed to academic excellence and scientific progress. One may ask if there is any system to measure or prove this assertion. The repository systems will not only answer this question but it will also provide university administrators with demonstrable evidence of the institution’s quality, thus helping every institution reinforce on institution’s brand position and prestige.
  • 5.
    Repository technology system,by capturing, preserving, and disseminating institutional collective intellectual information or records, serves as meaningful indicator of academic quality and merit. Repository system is not only a desired technology for tertiary institutions in Malaysia but it also present itself as a potential prediction tool for future analysis of institutional goal or initiatives. 1.6 Research Objectives The research objectives of the current study are: To assess the status of repository system in Malaysia, specifically in the relation to tertiary institutions. To design and develop a repository system for tertiary institutions in Malaysia. 1.7 Project Scope This project aims to implement the repository system for tertiary institutions in Malaysia that will be capable of carrying out different analysis and prediction services. An easy to use user interface will be employed to ensure user friendly system to all users. The scope also integrate business intelligent tool to produce different forms reports based on the following: Attendance of the students per semester or yearly basis for the benefit of visa extension,etc. for international students. This report is mostly asked by the Immigration Department during visa or passport renewal. Performance of the student for educational quality purposes, rating and Key Performance Indicator (KPI). The report from this session will directly go to MOHE.
  • 6.
    Population of studentsbased on different state in Malaysia or population of foreign students from different countries studying in Malaysia. With the application of cubes structure as one of the important tools used in multidimensional data warehousing, information on any or group of students can be produced in given time range. 1.8 Organization of Thesis Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter provides overview of educational system in Malaysia specifically on the tertiary institutions. The objectives and scope are also discussed in this chapter. Chapter 2: Literature Review The literature review for this research project gives the overview of repository system, types of repository data, intelligent information and existence of repository systems around the world. It also gives the methodology and implementation details used in some existing repository systems. Chapter 3: Methodology This chapter discusses the research methodology used for this study, the data collection and the method of data collection. Chapter 4: Data Analysis In this chapter, discussion is about data analysis. The data collected from tertiary institutions were tabulated, analysed and discussed in details. It also analysed about system review on repository system.
  • 7.
    Chapter 5: SystemAnalysis and Design The system design is conferred in this chapter. Here Web Development Method (WSDM) was used to carry out the design modeling. The Data Centre framework was discussed with respect to the proposed framework and prototype of Repository System.The Data Flow Diagram (DFD), activity diagram, database design, classes and function modules were also discussed in this chapter. Chapter 6: Implementation and Testing In this chapter, the database, classes and function implementations were analysed. The implementation of the repository system is narrated here; system testing which was done by the same contributors who participated in survey questionnaire. Chapter 7: Conclusion The project result base on the objectives of this study wasdeliberated in this chapter. The limitation and future work having considered the importance were also discussed here.