Upu Tried And Tested Says Former Deputy Minister

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Saifuddin Abdullah says it is unreasonable to have misgivings about the centralised university admission process..
Saifuddin Abdullah said public university admission is based on academic performance and extracurricular activities, assessed on a 90:10 ratio.PETALING JAYA: A former deputy higher education minister has defended the centralised Unit Pusat Universiti (UPU) admission process, which came under criticism after an STPM top scorer failed to secure a spot in accountancy in a public university
Saifuddin Abdullah said UPU is a “tried and tested” system
“In terms of integrity and meritocracy, which are important criteria, it is unreasonable to have misgivings about it,” he told FMT.
Saifuddin, who was at the ministry from 2009 to 2013, was commenting on the recent controversy sparked by student Edward Wong, who could not get a place in Universiti Malaya’s accountancy course despite achieving a perfect 4.0 CGPA and scoring 99.9% for co-curricular activities.
The higher education department later stated that Wong had ranked 1,129 among 2,291 eligible applicants for UM, while only 85 places for accountancy were available in his top choice of university this year.
Wong’s plight caught the attention of MCA, whose president Wee Ka Siong described the UPU admission process as “flawed” and “unfair”. It also led to accusations of racial bias.
Saifuddin said there could have been several reasons for Wong’s failure to secure a spot in UM, such as not sitting for specific subjects required for accounting, including mathematics.
Wong scored ‘A’ for general studies, economics, accounting and ICT.
“Also, while he may have scored straight As in his STPM, securing a spot in a public university does not depend on academic achievement alone,” Saifuddin said.
Evaluation was based on academic performance (90% weightage) and extracurricular activities. “Maybe the other candidates scored 100% for co-curricular activities,” he said. Wong scored 99.9%.
Saifuddin said the 90:10 ratio was aimed at ensuring holistic development. “In fact, I had proposed for the weightage for co-curricular activities to be increased to 30%,” he said. - FMT

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