KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 — Public universities, including the University of Malaya (UM), have the right to terminate the contract of any professor appointed depending on the needs of the university concerned, said Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh.

“The appointment and termination of a professor’s contract is the right of the respective universities,” he told the Dewan Rakyat sitting, here today.

He was replying to a supplementary question by Nurul Izzah Anwar (PKR-Lembah Pantai) on the termination of the service contracts of 156 professors aged between 61 and 70 in the public universities, including the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of UM, Professor Datuk Dr Mohammad Redzuan Othman, whose contract of service was not renewed following the budget constraints.

Idris said the budget rationalisation was in line with the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 to ensure that the public universities were not too dependent on financial resources from the government.

However, Idris said the UM was seen as one of the universities that did not have any problem in planning its funds. — Bernama