KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 ― Local public universities will not increase their fees for undergraduate students, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said today.
“As I said three years ago, there is no fee hike for undergraduate students. The fee remains,” he said to reporters when met after officiating the “Nation Higher Education Conference 2017” by the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) today.
Idris was responding to a statement made by a student group yesterday, which criticised the University of Malaya Centre for Continuing Education’s (UMCCED) move to create a direct intake for students who are able to afford unsubsidised tuition fees for engineering courses.
It was previously reported that UM obtains additional revenues to address budget cuts through its subsidiaries operating joint ventures between public and private institutions, which includes International University of Malaya Wales (IUMW), UMCCED, and UM Specialist Centre (UMSC).
Subsequently, Idris pointed out that public universities are known to offer private courses through its private wings.
However, students who obtain entry through the Higher Education Ministry’s centralised university unit (UPU) selection process are eligible for the subsidised fees, he said.
The student group, UM Association of New Youth (Umany), said yesterday that the direct intake system will only marginalise students from lower-income families.
A check by Malay Mail Online at UMCCED’s website found that the total fees for civil, electrical, chemical, biomedical and mechanical engineering degrees are set at RM90,000.
“There is no change in the normal process. Our fees for medicine is only RM3,000 which is one of the lowest in the world. It’s only five per cent of what is needed to do a medical programme,” Idris said.
“For engineering, students only pay around RM3,000 while the actual cost is over RM30,000. There is no such thing as students having to pay more, even in UM.”
