KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 — The country’s oldest university clarified today that its recent increase of fees that garnered much public attention does not affect tuition across the board as alleged.
The University of Malaya (UM) said the increase of RM100 per year was for its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) fee, adding that the sum had been unchanged since its 2011/2012 intake.
It explained that it worked out to RM50 a semester or RM8.30 per month for Malaysian students while the fee for international students has been doubled to RM600 from RM300.
“A meeting has also been held with student representatives from the various societies, including the presidents of the College Action Committees, to explain the matter,” the university’s corporate communications office said in a statement.
It said an explanation of the fee hike has also been posted onto a public domain after controversy erupted.
On October 18, a group of UM students calling themselves Suara Siswa UM raised an uproar, saying the university had raised fees this semester by as much as RM50 for locals and three times as much for international students without prior notice.
In a bid to prevent matters from spiralling out of control, Education Minister Maszlee Malik said he would hold a discussion with UM though he pointed that the university has autonomy in deciding on tuition fees.
