Move Resources To University Courses With Higher Demand

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Former economy minister Rafizi Ramli has called for university courses to be “streamlined” to match supply and demand better, following complaints from top students rejected by local universities.
Speaking on his “Yang Berhenti Menteri” podcast last night, he said resources should be shifted away from low-demand courses that attract fewer students and offer limited job opportunities for graduates.
“If demand for certain courses is high, then there is a need for us to restructure whichever courses that, in reality, do not face many requests but take up resources... (and) have little demand outside after finishing university.
“If the restructuring of university courses can be done, we can increase and adjust (placement) offers and the number of intakes every year so that it captures supply and demand better,” he said.
Former economy minister Rafizi RamliRafizi recounted an interview with a science and technology graduate, expressing his belief that such a course is overly broad in terms of what is taught to students.
He said he asked the graduate how many were in their class, to which they replied that an intake was usually only about 30 students.
Rafizi pointed out that this showed a low demand for the course.
On Monday (Sept 8), Edward Wong, who scored a 4.0 CGPA in the STPM examination, expressed disappointment after six universities rejected his applications to join their accounting course.
Instead, he was offered a management course, which Wong said was only his fifth choice, describing it as “neither my passion, nor my dream, nor the reward for my two years of struggle”.
He shared his story on Facebook, which prompted MCA president Wee Ka Siong to hold a press conference on the matter.
International students
Commenting further, Rafizi said a big problem influencing student placements was that 90 percent of funding for public universities comes from the government.
At the same time, the institutions still work on attracting international students, he added.
“The quality of a university is influenced by how international the university is - not just the students but also the faculty.”
Last month, Wee claimed that more students from China are gaining admission into Malaysian public universities because they can afford it, compared to locals.
This was later denied by Higher Education Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir.
Meanwhile, Rafizi opined that the issue of public universities rejecting top students rose from a lack of confidence in the system.
“Because non-Malays will continue to feel that they are being left out.
“That is why transparency is important and that transparency must also be based on a system that is acceptable to the people,” he said. - Mkini

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