PARLIAMENT | Putrajaya has no plan to replace the University and University Colleges Act (UUCA) 1971 with new legislation, Deputy Higher Education Minister Mohammad Yusof Apdal said.
The act is still relevant as it addresses several matters, such as governance and the relationship between the accountability of higher educational institutes, the government and the community, he explained.
“In light of that… the ministry is of the opinion that amending the act would be a more suitable step than directly abolishing the UUCA as a whole.
“What more, if a new law is introduced to replace it, it will only return and reuse many of the existing provisions in UUCA.
“This new law would be akin to merely changing skins,” Mohammad Yusof (above) said during the Question-and-Answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to Chow Yu Hui (Pakatan Harapan-Raub) who had asked if the Higher Education Ministry would consider repealing the UUCA (Akta Universiti dan Kolej Universiti 1971 - AUKU) and replacing it with a new higher education law.
The deputy minister said the current act had undergone seven amendments since it was enacted in 1971.
This includes the latest amendment in 2018, which provided more freedom to students to participate in politics, both on and off campus.
Mohammad Yusof also said there are further efforts underway to amend or abolish several provisions in UUCA to further improve this law.
“In short, the ministry is of the opinion that the UUCA is an important, relevant and well-functioning law.
“Any weaknesses that can be found in the act can be fine-tuned and improved through amendments and not through repealing it,” he said.
Chow also asked how the ministry would ensure the students’ autonomy under the UUCA since, he claimed, the managements of the universities were still limiting political activities on campus.
Barring Fahmi Reza from universities
He cited the example of graphic artist Fahmi Reza, who was barred from holding his ‘Kelas Demokrasi’ sessions in universities prior to the 15th general election.
Mohammad Yusof noted that the main concerns raised over UUCA have been about students’ autonomy in participating in political activities.
He then pointed out that the recent UUCA amendments had seen campus elections held in 14 universities from December 2022 to February this year.
“A remaining six more universities could not hold their own students’ campus elections as their terms have not expired.
“But we believe that once their terms expire, the six universities will be holding their own campus polls,” he said.
The campus elections held are run entirely by the student unions, without any interference from the university management, he stressed.
Despite that, Mohammad Yusof said the government is always open to constructive proposals and opinions on how to improve the UUCA further.
Higher Education Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin had previously said the government has no plan to abolish the UUCA.
Shortly after, a group of student organisations and Pakatan Harapan backbenchers urged the government to start engagement sessions on the Act.
They also called for the minister to set a clear timeline to outline how the authority would handle matters related to UUCA.
Abolishing the UUCA was one of Harapan’s manifesto promises in the last general election.
However, the current government is a coalition that includes BN – which has been the proponent of the UUCA in the past. - Mkini
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