ASTANA (Kazakhstan), Sept 28 —The Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) began reviewing and restructuring public university holding companies last year, including UiTM Holdings Sdn Bhd, said its Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir.

He said the move was taken to ensure university holding companies could function more effectively and contribute to their respective institutions, particularly after the government stopped fully funding universities’ financial needs in 2017.

“We have asked for all university holdings to be reviewed. Since last year, I have asked that we look at how to restructure the existing holding companies at universities.

“What we found was that some holdings were not functioning very well. That was the first step we took, and we have already begun several rounds of reviews to reassess these holdings, including UiTM Holdings,” he said.

He said this to Bernama here yesterday during the official visit to Kazakhstan for the Malaysia-Central Asia Higher Education Forum 2026 (MAHEF2026), when asked about MOHE’s follow-up action after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yesterday called for a review of UiTM Holdings’ management and governance following losses incurred by the company.

Zambry said some university holding companies had recorded profits while others had incurred losses, as such the business models of better-performing companies could serve as examples for others.

On UiTM, he said that a team had been established to comprehensively review efforts to strengthen the university, including aspects related to its holding company.

He said the team included Dr Nungsari Ahmad Radhi, Datuk Dr Hamzah Kassim, UiTM Board of Directors chairman Tan Sri Mohd Khamil Jamil and former Minister of Higher Education Tan Sri Idris Jusoh.

“We have set up a new team to look comprehensively at how we can reassess UiTM, and this also involves its holdings and so on.

“UiTM is a very important Bumiputera higher education institution that we need to safeguard and uphold to ensure that that no negative elements take root within it,” he said.

Zambry said he measures announced by the Prime Minister yesterday aligned with efforts already undertaken by MOHE, and the ministry would continue with the review.

UiTM Holdings was previously reported to have recorded cumulative pre-tax losses of approximately RM157 million for the 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021 financial years. — Bernama