Being an undergraduate in one of our local universities, I have come to realise that some professors are merely presenting their lessons in a monotonous manner and giving students the feeling that they are not in favour of teaching but would rather focus on their research area.

Furthermore, some professors would take ages to reply to queries from students or, worse still, not even bother to reply. Some professors, due to heavy research schedules with graduate students, have practically no time for undergraduate students.

However, there are still some who put in the effort to add that 'fun' element in their lectures. But is there still that motivation to teach well?

Undergraduate students are the basic building blocks of the universities' research base. If they do not receive sufficient attention, the aspect of research would suffer not now but perhaps 10 years down the road when a drop in quality of research may show up.

I hope our universities can strike a balance between teaching and research so as to allow professors to see the importance of both areas.

Khoo Lih-Han