This week, I saw MQA’s update on “PhD by Product”, shared by CEO Dato’ Prof. Dr. Mohammad Shatar Sabran, and I’m genuinely excited about what this signals for Malaysia’s higher education direction.
In essence, it recognises that some of the most meaningful doctoral-level contributions don’t always look like a traditional thesis. Instead, they show up as a high-quality, high-impact product that solves real problems in industry and society. MQA has indicated this pathway is intended to be flexible and inclusive, while still maintaining quality, with products expected to meet national standards and go through a stringent assessment process. Candidates who meet the criteria may be awarded MQF Level 8, equivalent to a PhD, and MQA is expected to release official implementation guidelines around July 2026.
What I like about this direction is that Malaysia is not doing it in isolation. Globally, we are seeing a stronger push towards practice-led, impact-driven doctoral training, especially in engineering and applied innovation. In China, for example, Nature reported the first “practical PhDs” being awarded based on products rather than papers, including a candidate who defended a product innovation in civil engineering instead of submitting a traditional dissertation. China has also been piloting product-or-design pathways in strategic engineering contexts, reflecting how some countries are aligning doctoral training more directly with innovation outcomes.
For Malaysia, “PhD by Product” has strong potential to strengthen TVET-linked innovation, product development, and industry problem-solving, while supporting national ambitions to enhance higher education competitiveness and internationalisation. It’s a very forward-looking signal: we value not only writing about solutions, but also building solutions that can stand up to rigorous scrutiny at doctoral level.
I’m looking forward to the official guideline release, because that will help universities, supervisors, and innovators translate this vision into a clear, workable pathway.
*Image generated via ChatGPT
