Sejahtera Academic Framework (SAF)

92 91 Mental Health PG studies can be quite stressful to students due to many reasons. Being away from family and beloved ones can take a toll on a person. What more when one is living on a budget or trying to stretch every single penny to make ends meet. Trying to maintain a good balance between working, family and studies is not something that not all PG students are capable of. Naturally, family commitments, death of close family members can cause depression or even cascade to bigger mental health issue. Over the past few years, the percentage of students seeking leave from studies on the basis of mental health issue has been on the rise. In 2015, the number of students granted leave on mental health issues only constitute one percent. This has accelerated to 4.8 percent in 2018. Year and Mental Health Details Count of Students Total Percentage by Year 2015 4 1.10% 2016 8 2.04% 2017 8 1.97% 2018 19 4.88% 2019 19 4.12% 2020 5 1.75% Sejahtera Academic Framework and the Current PG programmes The Master programmes differ from bachelor programmes in that they are offered in 3 modes: (i) course work (ii) mixed mode (iii) research. Generally, the existing programmes offer specialization or in-depth studies in a discipline or niche areas of interest. As PG studies are principally taken by students to increase chances of employability with the additional skills and knowledge obtained, most of the PG programmes in IIUM aim exactly that i.e. to enhance career prospects or facilitate career change or to fit the practical needs of the industry. The design, field and nature of PG programmes are inherently specialized and focused to cater for adult learner level, so the course outline and delivery may not necessarily reflect the Sejahtera Framework. Members of the Board of studies also consist of experts in the professional field. As a result, most of the old PG programmes are not structured along the lines of the Sejahtera Academic Framework. Table 3.12 Students requesting study leave due to mental health issues (2015-2020) The first two Master programmes were introduced in 1986 with the graduation of its first batch of economics and law students. Since then IIUM has introduced and run a total of 77 Master and 37 Ph.D. programs. As IIICE has been the backbone of academic programmes in IIUM, it has been embedded sufficiently in the program learning outcomes (PLOs) and course learning outcomes (CLOs) of PG taught courses and research programmes in IIUM. Islamisation (and its variations) courses are considered by all Centres of Studies as core courses. At present, the Islamisation courses are offered in IIUM under different course titles and names depicting the level of mastery at the philosophical and theoretical construct, the difference of approaches and perspectives as well as depth and nuances of the methodologies adopted. The variety of names inwhich Islamisation-related courses are offered demonstrates that the content has been fine-tuned to address specific issues in the disciplines. FGD: Issues and Challenges A series of FGD were conducted at several Center of Studies between April to June 2020 to reflect whether the existing design of both Master and Ph.D. programs reflect the Sejahtera Academic Framework. From the feedback provided by KLM, INHART, KOE, KAHS, KON, KOM, KIRKHS, KICT and AIKOL the report is that the overall design of the PG programmes need to be revised to properly reflect the shift in IIUM’s vision and mission, particularly the emphasis on SDGs and Education 2030. However, both sustainable development goals and Maqā ṣ id Ash-Sharī ʿ ah are portrayed heavily in funded research projects where graduate students are involved. From the total of research projects participated by PG students, about 205 of them are involved in projects that are aligned to these two missions. Although the research projects may not be attributing to any single research objectives on the IIUMmission and vision, yet the output of the research projects contributes to these ideal objectives. Focus Group Discussions (FGD): Issues and Challenges A series of FGDs were conducted at the Centre of Studies to seek their views of whether or not the existing design of IIUM PG programmes reflects the SAF. Feedback from the FGDs indicated that Islamisation as the IIUM philosophy of knowledge is sufficiently embedded into the PG taught courses and research. The remaining issue is whether the other core components of the SAF such as Education 2030, SDG and FPK have equally been considered as well. It has to be noted that even though IIUM’s foray into SDG started only in the last one or two years, PG research analysing issues based on SDG has been done for many years albeit without any formal direction from the University. UniCORE