Malaysia is a Multicultural country. However, Malaysia is an Islamic Country but there are other religions living there as well. The dressing style in such society differs according to people’s culture, religion and of course their education level. As everyone knows the universities in every country play the key role in new generation’s training which this training has a direct relation with youths’ performance in the society. We always expect the educated and graduate people to have a better understanding of the behavior and actions in the societies. It is true that training a profession and preparing the young people for their future are the most important universities’ responsibilities. On the other hand, these responsibilities are not limited to the mentioned factors. Another important issue that universities are responsible is to teach the students how to appear and behave in different situations, positions, conditions and occasions. Students must learn the way to dress up for different events. We expect all students to be aware of this issue since our universities are designed to train students in every field. But unfortunately, many universities are ignoring the important of this issue.

One of the well known universities in Malaysia (Multimedia University in Cyberjaya) has announced new rules recently about the students dressing and clothing.  The students who are wearing sandals, short skirts, shorts and open and tight T-shirts are not allowed to enter to library any more.  This is a good movement and we have to congratulate the management of this university for considering this issue in training our new generation.

The students may be annoyed at the first step but I believe that it is a good practice for them to think more about their personality in the society. For example, a business man never wear a swimwear when he is going to his office or he will not wear suit and tie when he is going to the beach. This means that every occasion has its own dressing style and standards. All people should consider this important point in their daily life. The way people dress in various occasions impresses their personalities. Students are not exceptions. They have to understand that sandals, shorts, short skirts and etc are not proper clothes for academic institutions.

By just a little focus on many universities all around the world, we find out that almost all universities are not pushing their students to dress properly. Some students are mistaking the universities atmosphere with the parks and beaches and the others with fashion shows. The whole point is that students as adults should learn the standards for different occasions which is good for their future lives. It can be a good idea to the universities to add up a new course as a compulsory course for students to teach them about the methods of behaving and appearing in different occasions, just like other courses like public speaking and research writings which are really good courses. 

By now, I believe that the other universities should follow up this new movement which is good for our new generation’s future. We all try to have a better society so we do our efforts to achieve this aim.

Mona Ershadifar