No such thing as a drop in university intake, says Idris
Putrajaya today dismissed claims by PKR that there was a drop in the percentage of public university intake this year compared with last year.
Education Minister II Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh (pic) said the ministry had never issued any directive asking for the reduction of the existing quota for this year's university intake.
Describing the claims as baseless, he said the ministry had yet to receive the total number of students accepted as the intake process was currently still at the appeal stage.
"I do not know why this issue came about. There was no instruction from the ministry to reduce the intake and I do not understand how certain parties can come to such conclusion when the process itself is still ongoing.
"We will only know whether there is any reduction after we have gathered all the applications and appeals. We have to wait for the process to be completed before we can conclude anything," he said.
PKR’s Sim Tze Tzin on August 15 had highlighted that the number of public university applications had jumped by 30 per cent from last year, but the acceptance rate has experienced a “drastic drop”.
Idris, who expressed disappointment over the allegation, likened it to an attempt to tarnish the ministry.
He said parties were wired towards finding fault with the ministry and made "a mountain out of a molehill" on every issue.
He said everyone should be proud of local education, which was on a commendable level as shown by a survey conducted by an international educational portal, Education First. It said the command of the English language among Malaysian students was better than their Singaporean counterpart.
Idris said based on the third edition of the English Language Skills Index 2013, Malaysia was ranked 11 compared with Singapore (12) out of 17 countries.
"There are people out there who were adamant at finding faults although it was not as terrible as they portrayed.
"Our students have achieved many successes but some prefer to listen to negative stories without realising that we are currently training 40,000 English teachers."
Idris said he was confident that with more successes achieved within the local education sector, the country would be able to improve its university rankings.
"There should be no compromise when it comes to education."
It was reported that the Higher Education Advisory and Complaint Portal (HEAP) formed by PKR, had received a total of 130 complaints from students claiming they had failed to get the courses they applied for or places in public universities despite having the qualification. – August 26, 2014.
