Seputeh MP Teresa Kok demanded in her statement yesterday, that the government reveal the selection criteria involved when placing students in local universities. This was following a report on Sin Chew Daily highlighting 3 students who had not been allowed to pursue their courses of choice despite producing stellar results in STPM aside from being high achievers in sports.

Two of the students from SMJK Sam Tet, Ipoh had obtained straight A’s in the STPM examination; one was a state badminton player, while the other was a state table tennis player. The state badminton player’s first choice was UKM’s dentistry programme, but she instead was offered nursing by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), while the other student was offered veterinary by Universiti Kelantan Malaysia as opposed to UM’s course in medicine that he applied for. Both did not apply for the courses offered to them.

The other student was from Bentung, Pahang, and had obtained a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.0 for Matriculation and 98 points for co-curricular activities. She had applied to study medicine in 8 public universities but was only offered a nursing course by UNIMAS. She had then sought help from Bentung MP Liow Tiong lai, who was pictured with her in Sin Chew Daily.

Responding to this, the Seputeh MP had asked for the MCA Bentung MP to bring up the matter directly with Education Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

“I don’t wish to touch on the question of the need for a Cabinet Minister to highlight a constituent’s plight via press conference though I think Liow should just bring the matter up directly with the Education Minister, but since it is obvious now that the issue of top scorers failing to obtain their favored university courses does not involve just one or two students and that it has been a perennial problem, MCA Ministers must raise the matter in the Cabinet to bring about a fair and transparent university intake system and policy that will not waste and reject the nation’s talents,” she added also that Muhyiddin Yassin should not be compelled to say that there are limited places in the university, or that the number of qualified applicants outnumber the places available.

On August 16, Teresa Kok had highlighted other students who were denied the course of choice despite being top scorers in SPM and STPM. While high achieving students have not “satisfied” the government enough to earn them a spot in their course of choice, the DAP questions the fairness of university criteria, and demand that it be made transparent to the public. -The Rocket