PETALING JAYA: Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) holders are caught in a bind when they discovered entry requirements into the designated public universities have changed from what was announced months earlier, says MCA Youth.
The government had revealed one set of conditions when the admission pathway was announced earlier this year, only for a stricter set to surface later on university websites, said its education consultative committee chairman Ong Chee Siang.
He said Transport Minister Anthony Loke had said in January this year that UEC holders needed only their UEC results plus credits in two Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) subjects, Bahasa Melayu and History.
Recent university websites, however, now set a higher bar, requiring A2 in six UEC subjects, Band 4.5 in the Malaysian University English Test (MUET), and a pass in an entrance examination and interview, Ong said.
“With requirements differing between what was announced and the universities’ official websites, how are UEC students supposed to know which set to follow?” he said.
Ong said the six-subject requirement had not been mentioned when the pathway was announced.
He said scoring A2 in six subjects was very difficult and within reach only of top students.
Students and teachers had told MCA Youth the bar was too tough, he added.
Requiring a higher grade in the Chinese-language subject, such as an A2 or B3, would be reasonable, he said, but not six A2s across the board.
He said the bar was higher than at international schools and stricter than China’s Peking University, which accepted UEC holders for the same field with five subjects and an A1 or A2 in Chinese.
The disparity was also clear against private institutions, Ong said, with New Era University College requiring three UEC credits and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) five subjects at grade B or above.
Ong proposed that public universities and the UPU central admissions system adopt the same requirements as private institutions.
