PUTRAJAYA, July 16- The government is committed to solve the issue involving students who failed to secure places at public institutions of higher learning for the academic sessions 2013/2014 soon.
Deputy Minister P. Kamalanathan is confident that the issue would be discussed in detail at the cabinet meeting this week.
“The government will try its best to help the students so that they can pursue their studies at the IPTA.
“I’m sure this matter will be discussed in detail at the Cabinet meeting this week and that we will have the solutions for the students.
“Approximately 18,222 students failed to secure university places this year, but we have opened a channel for them to appeal,” he told reporters after witnessing the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) and Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund with Namibian Minister of Education Dr David R. Namwandi here yesterday.
The MoA was inked by UPSI vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Zakaria Musa and Namibian Ambassador to Malaysia Gebhard B. Kandanga.
It will enable 70 Namibian students to pursue their Bachelor’s Degree in Education (Information Technology) at UPSI starting September this year.
Meanwhile, Kamalanathan said Malaysia had set a target to lure 150,000 foreign students by 2015 and 200,000 by 2020 in a bid to become the international higher education excellence hub.
As such, he called on all universities to enhance their quality in all aspects, including education, management and sponsorship, to gain international recognition that would help attract international students.
He said local universities must also increase their collaborations with other countries to develop certain programmes to lure international students.
“This is vital because Malaysia will become the international education hub and to enable our students to compete with their foreign counterparts,” he added.
-BERNAMA
