The authorities should swiftly proceed to implement the quality assurance system to counteract potential adverse effects of relying on enrolments and the number of graduates to determine public funding. This constraint adversely affects the position of public HEIs to compete for hiring and retaining most talented staff. Considering that salaries are included in the lump-sum public funding and HEIs are autonomous in the allocation of those funds, HEIs should be given more freedom to determine the salaries of their academic staff.