University Malaya Association of New Youth (Umany) stands in solidarity with Edward Wong Yi Xian, demanding that both the government and the University of Malaya (UM) immediately explain why he was denied admission into UM’s accounting programme through the Unit Pusat Universiti (UPU) channel, and instead was only offered a place via direct intake.
The fact that Edward received a direct intake offer proves that he meets the qualifications for the programme. Yet, despite achieving a perfect 4.0 STPM result, he is now forced to pay tuition fees up to ten times higher than others to pursue the same course.
Umany further pointed out that despite the Madani government’s three years in power, reforms to the university admissions system remain superficial, treating symptoms without addressing root causes, and have only made the process more complicated.
As a result, cases of injustice involving outstanding STPM and matriculation students continue to occur year after year, leaving students deeply disheartened.
Umany calls on the Higher Education Ministry to immediately publish the minimum entry scores, the ratio of UPU to direct intake students, and the ethnic breakdown for all universities and all programmes this year.
Such transparency is essential for the public to fully understand how admissions are conducted.
To support students facing unfair treatment, Umany has launched a complaint platform and has already gathered numerous related cases.
From these, Umany has identified three main problems:
First, Deputy Minister of Education Wong Kah Woh previously announced that STPM science stream students who achieve a 4.0 GPA would be guaranteed entry into their top three programme choices.
However, many STPM arts stream students with 4.0 GPAs have not received the same assurance.
Umany question why the policy only protects science students while excluding arts students. This constitutes a clear double standard, and the Ministry of Education must treat all STPM candidates equally.
Second, public universities have not increased UPU admission quotas in line with the rising number of applicants each year. This has made competition for high-demand programmes extremely intense, effectively marginalising STPM candidates.
According to a parliamentary reply in March 2024, fewer than 2% of STPM students were admitted into highly sought-after programmes such as dentistry, pharmacy, and medicine.
Although the Higher Education Minister previously pledged that UPU quotas would prioritise local students, current admission outcomes reveal otherwise, as a large portion of seats has instead been diverted to direct intake students.
Third, the government’s “10A Policy”, which guarantees automatic matriculation entry for students with 10As, may seem supportive of excellence, but in reality exposes deeper inequities within the admissions system.
The policy has led to a surge in matriculation enrolment, which in turn produced a sharp increase in students achieving 4.0 GPAs. However, the number of places in popular programmes has not risen accordingly, with many instead being channelled to direct intake admissions.
As a result, nearly all applicants for popular programmes now hold perfect or near-perfect scores, making a 4.0 GPA no longer a guarantee of admission. This situation severely disadvantages STPM candidates, who generally find it more difficult to achieve maximum co-curricular scores.
Consequently, even top-performing students with flawless academic results are often relegated to their fourth or fifth programme choices, a crushing disappointment that undermines their hard work and dedication.
Umany therefore strongly urges the Higher Education Ministry to immediately disclose the admission criteria for every university and programme, ensuring full transparency in the UPU system and preventing further injustices.
Umany also calls on the Ministry to expand UPU quotas and allocate more university places to STPM students, instead of disproportionately favouring direct intake candidates, particularly international students.
This is a struggle for educational fairness, and Umany pledges to stand firmly alongside students until the Ministry enforces full transparency and implements meaningful systemic reform.
University Malaya Association of New Youth (Umany)
