PETALING JAYA: The Auditor-General’s Report (AG’s Report) 1/2026 has highlighted several governance issues at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), including irregularities in the collection of student fees and expenditure amounting to millions of ringgit.
The report said UKMShape was granted autonomy by the University Board of Directors (LPU) to manage its own finances in order to achieve its stipulated objectives, in line with UKM’s long-term strategic agenda.
Among the programmes offered by UKMShape are the Master of Education (SPEND) and the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (DPLI).
"Based on offer letters issued by UKM, the student fee revenue for SPEND and DPLI programmes in 2024 that should have been accounted for and collected amounted to RM60.77mil," it said.
This total only covers students who enrolled in 2024, comprising two SPEND cohorts and four DPLI cohorts, the report explained.
"Of the RM60.77mil, RM50.74mil was collected by Koperasi B-5-1788 and RM2.43mil by UKM, leaving RM7.6mil still outstanding from students," the report said.
The audit of student fee collections for the SPEND and DPLI programmes found that the collections were carried out by an unauthorised party, namely Koperasi B-5-1788, amounting to RM50.74 mil, comprising RM3.53mil for SPEND and RM47.21mil for DPLI.
"The collaboration agreements for SPEND and DPLI were invalid as they did not receive approval from the Finance Minister, as required under UKM's constitution," it added.
In response, UKMShape acknowledged that there is no provision under the UKM constitution authorising it to enter into any collaboration agreements with external parties or to grant Koperasi B-5-1788 the authority to collect fees on behalf of the university.
"The agreement was signed without the proper authority to allow Koperasi B-5-1788 to collect revenue for UKM.
"An investigation is ongoing into the party that granted Koperasi B-5-1788 the authority to collect student fees for the SPEND and DPLI programmes.
"Following the Auditor-General’s Department (JAN) remarks, UKMShape has taken over the student recruitment and fee collection process for DPLI entirely, starting from Cohort 7 in Semester 1 of the 2025/2026 session." it said.
UKMShape also plans to fully manage the recruitment and fee collection for SPEND beginning with Cohort 10 in Semester 2 of the 2025/2026 session.
Meanwhile, Koperasi B-5-1788 continues to manage students in Cohort 6 and below for DPLI, and Cohort 9 and below for SPEND, until the direction of the collaboration agreement is determined by the University Board of Directors (LPU).
UKMShape also acknowledged that the collaboration agreement did not receive approval from the LPU, as required under UKM's Constitution.
The contract agreement between UKM and Koperasi B-5-1788 is set to expire in 2027.
The audit review also found that UKM issued offer letters to 787 SPEND students and 16,406 DPLI students in 2024, with fees totalling RM60.77mil.
However, UKM only accounted for the net amount after deducting the share allocated to Koperasi B-5-1788, recognising student fees of RM28.41mil in accordance with the distribution agreed in the collaboration agreement.
The student fees amounting to RM32.36 mil collected by Koperasi B-5-1788 were not recorded as UKM revenue, resulting in a significant understatement of 2024 revenue in the university’s financial statements.
An audit of UKMShape’s expenditures found that RM6.69mil in payments were made irregularly. These payments did not follow standard financial procedures, lacked proper approval, and were not fully supported by the required documentation.
The audit report found that commission payments totaling RM5.94mil were made to 41 student recruitment agents who were not eligible, as they were either not on the list of agents approved by the relevant authorities or had not been issued formal appointment letters.
In response dated Jan 22, UKMShape acknowledged the audit findings, which concluded that the issues stemmed from the failure of previous management to comply with existing regulations.
The university has also received claims from unauthorised agents and continues to receive claims for services rendered by these agents. A proposal paper will be submitted for MPU endorsement and LPU approval to determine whether the payments are justified.
