This year's intake into public universities is the lowest in three years and PKR says the drastic reduction is to be blamed on budget cut affecting public tertiary institutions.
Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tsin, who is also PKR's strategic director said today the director-general of higher education Asma Ismail had announced that this year's intake by public universities was only 40,438 for the 2015/2016 session.
“According to the DG, there were 63,942 applicants and 59,511 who were qualified and despite this 40,438 were taken in,” he said in a press statement.
“Based on parliament data the intake of 40,438 this year is the lowest compared to 41,573 in 2013 and 42,795 last year. This represented a 5.5 per cent reduction. We object to the drastic reduction in intake.
“We suspect the reduction in intake by public universities is due to cuts in the 2015 budget. According to the 2015 budget passed by the Dewan Rakyat, the budget has been cut by 12.36 percent from RM8.47 billion in 2014 to RM7.42 billion,” he revealed.
The Bayan Baru lawmaker said the budget cut was due to fiscal measures taken by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to control the national debt which has now approached 55 percent (of the gross domestic product)
Sim said PKR is of the view that there should not be budget cuts for public tertiary institutions as it is the government's responsibility to ensure it is a smart investment.
He said all 20 public institutions of higher learning had seen budget cuts.
“According to a study done by the Organisation for Economic Co operation and Development (OECD), investment in higher education brings a high return to the government. Every ringgit the government invests in higher education, the government would get back RM6 in taxes.
New portal for students
“It would also reduce the problem of unemployment. PKR realises the benefits in investing in higher education and that is why in the party manifesto for the 13th general election, we promised free higher education similar to Germany.
Increase intake to tertiary institutions
With the decline in value of the ringgit, PKR hopes the government will absorb more students into public higher institutions.
“Parents are facing serious problems in financing the costs of sending their children to private higher institutions. This is the best opportunity for the government to retain the best minds to study in the public institutions due to the higher ringgit.
“With more students studying in local public universities, the achievement of these local public universities will also increase. Hence, PKR urges more public universities to take in more students in the second intake this September,” said Sim.
He also announced the formation of the Higher Education Complaint and Appeal Portal to assist students who do not get offers from public universities or those who had been offered courses which they do not want or apply for.
This web, he added, is open to all STPM students for them to complain to PKR MPs and all they have to do is fill in the form here .
“We will gather the data for analysis and the closing date is on Aug 21. They must also appeal to the UPU website .
The appeal to HEAP is only an added measure,” said Sim.
