KUALA LUMPUR: More than 99% of Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) top scorers were offered places at public universities over the last five years, says Adam Adli Abdul Halim.
The Deputy Higher Education Minister said a total of 5,158 STPM graduates obtained a perfect 4.0 CGPA, with 5,149 (99.83%) receiving offers for courses at public universities.
“There will be excellent candidates with CGPA 4.0 who do not obtain a place for their first choice.
“However, they will still be offered a place in public universities based on the 12 programme choices applied through the UPUOnline system,” he told the Dewan Rakyat during Ministry Question Time on Monday (July 13).
He said STPM arts stream students made up the bulk of the applications with 4,636 students applying between 2021 and 2026, and 4,629 receiving offers.
This includes Academic session 2021/2022 (648 candidates applied and 644 received offers), session 2023/2024 (1,031 candidates applied and 1,029 received offers), session 2024/2025 (1,010 candidates applied and 1,009 received offers).
Meanwhile, the 2022/2023 and 2025/2026 academic sessions saw 763 and 1,184 art stream students apply, respectively, with all applicants receiving offers.
STPM science stream students numbered 522 during the same period, with 520 receiving offers.
Science stream students in the 2022/2023 and 2024/2025 academic sessions saw 114, and 97 students applied, respectively, with only one student from each year not receiving any offers.
Those applying in the academic sessions 2021/2022 (92), 2023/2024 (148), and 2025/2026 (71) also all received offers from public universities.
Adam said the applications were made through UPUOnline where students could make choices of the field they wish to study at the higher education level.
“However, their success in obtaining a place in public universities is subject to academic achievement, merit position, and fulfilling general and special conditions set.
“This includes the number of places currently available as well as passing the interview and/or test for study programmes that set such requirements,” he added.
Adam was responding to a question from Chow Yu Hui (PH-Raub) on the total number of STPM candidates with a CGPA of 4.00 by stream for the past half-decade and on the current policy for such students to get their first, second or third choice of course at public universities in guaranteed.
