Non-bumis make up 13.5% of public uni enrolment, Dewan Rakyat told

KUALA LUMPUR: The enrolment of non-bumiputra students in public universities stood at 13.5% last year, says Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

Data from the Public University Data Collection System showed the total number of local students in public universities was 551,082 as of last year, he said in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday (Oct 23).

"Out of the total, the breakdown of enrolment for bumiputra students stood at 86.5%, which is 476,796 students, compared to 13.5% non-bumiputra students, or 74,286 students," he said in reply to Datuk Willie Mongin (GPS-Puncak Borneo).

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Mongin had asked the ministry to reveal the total public university enrolment and breakdown of local students by bumiputra and non-bumiputra as well as religion.

He also wanted to know the courses students picked.

Mohamed Khaled said 94.7% (451,579 students) of bumiputra students in public universities are Muslims while 5.3% are non-Muslims.

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"Of the non-bumiputra students, 92.1% (68,403) are non-Muslims while 7.9% are Muslims.

"The three top fields chosen by local students... are social sciences and business law as the (most popular) choice; engineering, manufacturing and construction as the second (most popular); and science, mathematics and computer science, third," said Khaled.