Maszlee: MOE plans student unions at five universities next year

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — The Ministry of Education (MOE) targets to set up student unions at five public universities next year, said its minister, Maszlee Malik.

To date, he said MOE had received very encouraging cooperation and support from all public universities to realise the aspiration.

‘‘If possible, we want all universities whether public or private to have student unions,’’ he told reporters after launching the setting up of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) students’ union, here today.

Maszlee said the setting up of student unions at universities could train students to become more mature in handling themselves and gave them more experience in managing unions, finance and undergraduate activities.

‘‘We hope the setting up of student unions which starts at IIUM will be followed by other universities after this,’’ he said.

Maszlee said IIUM was the first student union after it was abolished for more than 40 years.

‘‘We know the last student union was in Universiti Malaya (UM) which had been buried and today it is brought back to life in IIUM. We are very proud because this is the start of change to the future development of the nation,’’ he said.

In appreciation, the IIUM students’ union received a RM100,000 one-off fund from MOE other than receiving an annual allocation of RM170,000 from IIUM for student activities and their operation.

Meanwhile, Maszlee also launched the book, Buku Membaca: Motivasi dan Kaedah authored by Datuk Seri Prof Zaini Ujang and published by the Malaysian Institute of Translations and Books.

The 205-page book revealed 1,001 secrets and tips on reading other than sharing numerous reading techniques including the skimming and scanning methods.

It was divided into four parts covering 10 chapters which analysed in detail on reading society, reading preparation, reading technique and reading epilogue. — Bernama