PETALING JAYA: In their quest for more revenue, public universities are not producing enough Malaysian graduates in critical sectors such as accountancy and engineering, says a Perikatan Nasional state leader.
Kedah exco member and Jitra assemblyman Dr Haim Hilman Abdullah called this a "crisis in higher education" sparked by the government's policy for greater "internationalisation" of the nation's top public universities.
Haim Hilman, who is a former vice-chancellor of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), is the latest politician to raise concerns about public universities giving too much priority to attracting foreign students.
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On Monday (Sept 22), MCA president and Ayer Hitam MP Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong had urged the Higher Education Ministry not to focus on internationalisation at the expense of bright local students.
In a social media post the same day, Haim Hilman said the government's Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 economic plan projected that the country needs about 60,000 accountants by that year, while the current number is only 25,000.
According to Higher Education Ministry data, he said, the top four public universities for accountancy have only allocated 590 slots for Malaysian STPM and matriculation graduates.
"Among these (four) universities, there are 5,187 youngsters who attained a 4.0 CGPA and scored 100% in their curriculum," said Haim Hilman, who is the Kedah industry and investment, higher education, science, technology and innovation committee chairman.
"They are the cream of the crop who applied for accountancy programmes, but there are only 590 slots (in these universities)," he wrote.
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The top four institutions he was referring to are Universiti Malaya, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Utara Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
He added that the same concern had been raised earlier by Dr Wee, who pointed out that 45% of slots for engineering in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) had been given to foreign students.
"Dr Wee... said that of the 200 slots for electrical and electronics engineering in UKM, 90 or 45% have been given to foreign students.
"We are not against foreign students, but when we open up too much of our universities to them, we risk losing slots for Malaysian youth," Haim Hilman said, noting that the government projects a need for 50,000 engineers by 2030.
Haim Hilman said he is not opposed to internationalisation or turning the country into a regional hub for education as long as Malaysian students remain a priority.
"The issue that concerns us today is that of the 180,000 places in the top five public universities, about 8% of bachelor degree programmes and 13% of post-graduate programmes are given to international students," he said.
He added that if public institutions reduced these proportions, it would free up more spaces for Malaysians.
"This is the crisis in higher education. We prepare our children to excel in school, but when they want to pursue further studies, there are limited slots," he wrote.
