international? not by a long stretch...

Okay first off a warning..  if this entry sounded angry, it is because I am angry when I wrote this.. but if you want to be more precise, I am more frustrated and sad than angry... and here is the lowdown of the reasons why I am frustrated...


A little bit of background
My department has been having an annual international conference for the past 12 years.. as usual we send out invitations to local and international universities asking for research papers.. as this is an "international conference" everything has to be in English - the conference papers must be in English and the presenters must present in English, so I was asked to handle the correspondences between scholars, a task that I gladly accepted.

And so I became a part of the organizing committee.. and the things I've seen, heard and experienced during this entire time just made me frustrated... but mostly, I felt sad... sad because the hard work of many got lost among all the political undercurrents and hidden agendas... sad because the nobility of academia seemed just a mirage and illusion..


Initial request for abstract and then full paper
This year, the initial responses were good as we received around 50 abstract submissions.. notice the word "initial"? Yeah, cos in the end, we received only about 30 full papers.. Some of these scholars didn't even have the courtesy to let us know that they are unable to submit their full paper. And those who did submit, can't/don't read the instructions given and sent us their papers in all kinds of format and layout when we have specifically stated what we wanted... Yet, because of the lack of numbers, we had no choice but to accept them and amend the "problems" ourselves..

But formats and layout is the least of our concerns.. We just wanted numbers.. thus we closed an eye to the quality of those papers.. and this is one of the many things that I can't get over.. how can these people be "scholars" when they can't even write proper English?? more on this in the later segment..


So called "international" "scholars"

good English, a tall order??

As this is supposed to be an "international" conference, we only looked at their nationality of their passports and not the quality of their work.. Almost 95% of the so-called overseas scholars can't speak proper English as it is not their first language. I am not being a snob nor biased against those who is weak in English, but a basic grasp of English is a must for scholars, isn't it?? I can forgive them if they don't speak Queen's English, but bad grammar and tons of spelling errors in their presentation slides?? That, for me, is unforgivable..

When I was tasked to "handle" overseas scholars, I was warned of a scholar from India who is "difficult" and "hard to please". Those who had interacted with him, including a couple of associate professors of the department, were all terrified of him and they were very happy that I'll be the one "entertaining" him this year.. so given the bad rep that this Indian scholar has I was bracing myself, ready for some "war of words".. Yet when I met up with him, he turned out to be rather pleasant. He is, in actuality, a "pussy cat" compared to some really mean/difficult people that I've dealt with.


Organizing the conference
Everyone in the committee was running around like chickens with their head cut off before and during the conference.. maybe that's a bit harsh, but that was how I truly felt watching from the sides.. Everyone wanted to make the conference a success, yet they do not know how.. those who knew didn't step up to help due to one reason or another.. thus, there was 100% heart that only produced 60% result..

Many of the "usual" things that were supposedly "traditions" were nothing but out-dated ways of doing things.. I can't help but be reminded of the ways things were done in Japan.. where "traditions" thumps efficiency.. when things can be done by 1 person, 2 or more were assigned to it, just so that people can feel that they are getting a "personalized service"... Personally, I think we should be efficient first, then be effective, with "personalization" last.. but it's just me..


Lack of support from faculty members

faculty - shiny but empty?

This conference is organized by my department, yet not all the faculty members attended. And from what I've observed, there is a major lack of cohesiveness in the department. One of them didn't even bother to present his accepted paper!! It was truly unbelievable...

Also, the task of "entertaining" overseas scholars should be the responsibility of the faculty members, not PhD nor Masters students.. The lack of confidence in their English skills should NEVER be the excuse to "hide" or congregate among their students.. How can they foster international cooperation if they didn't even dare(?) or bother to talk to the 3 (actual) overseas scholars (1 from India, 2 from Indonesia) that we had? Thus frankly, I've lost much, if not all, of my respects for some of the faculty members.. which, I must confess, is not a good thing..


A tussle between quality and quantity
Due to the lack of numbers, we had to accept many papers which are of inferior quality.. If the papers were not up to the standards, neither would the scholars who wrote them be of any higher quality. Thus I shouldn't have been surprised with their horrendous murder of the English language during their presentations. 

And truth be told, that Indian scholar is good in his research and takes his responsibility as a conference session chairperson very seriously, unlike those from China whom I think are bunch of freeloaders and a real disgrace to the academia. He was the only one who had asked for the papers of his session that he was chairing. And he gave good recommendations/suggestions to the presenters on how to further improve their papers, if they can understand him in the first place..

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I am pissed, frustrated and sad because I care.. I care because I will be forever linked to this University and this department.. I don't want the conference nor my department to be treated as a joke... I want to be proud of my department, not just in Taiwan but in the world... However, if things continue the way they are right now, that wish might well remain an unattainable dream...

Thus, instead of just complaining and talking on hindsight, I've volunteered my service to help with the organizing, planning and executing of the conference next year. With all the experience that I have, accumulated from my NUS days of being a part of EHOC (Eusoff Hall Orientation Committee) and SMC (Sports Management Committee), to my corporate "adventure" in SISTIC and Visa, and my short stint in Japan, I am confident that I will be able to manage a bunch of Masters students to ensure a smoother and more efficient/effective hosting of the conference next year.