MoHE launches Student Housing Initiative

Comprehensive platform: Noraini officiating the launch of the Student Housing Initiative.

THE Higher Education Ministry has launched the Student Housing Initiative (Rumah Siswa) for off-campus students.

The initiative involves three main components: a development unit, and a guideline for off-campus student management, as well as a Student Housing Initiative portal, the ministry said in a statement.

“The ministry and 20 public higher education institutions have taken a proactive approach by establishing an Off-Campus Student Management Unit, which acts as an administrator and advisor, provides house counselling services, and monitors the implementation of the programme as well as student activities off campus.

“To ensure this initiative is on the right track, a comprehensive guideline for the management of off-campus students has been developed with the help of the Malaysian Public Universities Housing Council, ” the ministry said.

The guideline has five key components: off-campus student development; services for off-campus students; off-campus students’ well-being management; rental house management; and off-campus student community network.

A Student Housing portal was also established as a guide for students looking to rent houses around their campuses.

“This portal serves to provide advice, to facilitate the process of searching for rooms for rent or rental houses, as well as to maintain the rental price of the houses at an affordable rate.

“It also ensures the existence of a dedicated database at the university level, related to the location of accommodation, its facilities, its distance to access the university’s facilities and more importantly, off-campus students’ safety, ” it added.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad officiated the launch of the Student Housing Initiative on March 4.

She said the ministry is always ready to listen to students to get new insights and ideas, as a way for the government to empower students and strengthen the sustainability of higher education institutions.

As of the last academic semester, she said there are some 150,000 students who lived off-campus or who were non-residents.

“The National Students’ Consultative Council (Majlis Perundingan Pelajar Kebangsaan) and I met Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin last June, where the Council proposed 11 agendas for the government’s attention and consideration to empower students.

“The Student Housing Initiative was one of the agendas they proposed.

“The components under this initiative are a guide to university management in administering, coordinating and managing all needs, information, and off-campus students’ development and welfare matters, especially those staying in rented homes in order to be more organised and thorough, ” she said.

As of Feb 16, Noraini said a total of 1,250 houses across the country have registered on the portal (rumahsiswa.mohe.gov.my).