Cheaper fees for foreign students not fair to locals

Public universities are treating local students unfairly by offering cheaper fees to foreign students.

Sabah Private Higher Learning Institution Association president Datuk Wong Khen Thau said that it was also wrong for the public universities and colleges to provide cheaper education fees to foreign students as this hampers efforts by private institutions of higher learning in Sabah to help the government make Malaysia a regional education hub.

According to The Star, Wong said the public universities and colleges were offering fees much lower than their private counterparts, and this indirectly subsidises the foreign students to pursue various courses.

He said potential foreign students had complained that fees at the private institutions were too expensive when compared to that offered by public universities and colleges.

“They tell us it is a better deal with the government universities as they provide better facilities than us,” he said.

The public institutions, he said, were charging foreign students as low as RM3,500 a year for certain diploma courses while private institutions’ fees cost three or four times more.