UUM supports quotas for matriculation programme

Universiti Utara Malaysia in Sintok, Kedah.

KUALA LUMPUR: Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) has come out in support of the Cabinet’s decision to maintain the entry quota of 90% for Bumiputera students and 10% for non-Bumiputera students for the public university matriculation programme.

Its vice-chancellor Prof Ahmad Bashawir Abdul Ghani said the increase in student intake to 40,000 places compared to 25,000 earlier is fair as it is in line with the original objective of the programme.

Bashawir said the programme is to develop potential Bumiputera students in science, technology and professional fields through quality pre-university education to produce excellent human capital.

“It should be remembered that the matriculation programme was introduced especially for Bumiputera students following the problem of racial imbalance at universities and it was the Cabinet under the leadership of Tun Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) in June 2002, which approved an allocation of 10% quota for non-Bumiputeras starting from the 2003 intake.

“As such, the decision of the Cabinet on April 24 to increase the intake of students was the second concession after 16 years by the government to resolve the problem of eligible non-Bumiputeras who could not obtain places in line with the mission and vision of New Malaysia to be more inclusive,” he said in a statement today.

On April 24, Education Minister Maszlee Malik said the intake of students into the ministry’s matriculation programme would be increased to 40,000 places compared to 25,000 earlier.

He said the programme was being expanded because there was a need to increase the number of students in science. - FMT