Noraini said the MoHE had also asked the universities not to impose fees on other activities because most students were not on campus during the Covid-19 pandemic. ― Malay Mail photo
KUALA LUMPUR (July 16): The Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) has urged public universities to lower their academic fees, especially for those students financially affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a statement today, the ministry noted that public universities had already introduced several initiatives to ease students’ financial burden since the start of the 2019/2020 second semester, including the reduction of fees related to services, hostels and college activities by an average of 10 to 35 per cent.
“The reduction in fees for the Second Semester of the 2019/2020 Academic Session for all Malaysian students involved an allocation of RM75 million of which RM20 million is an additional allocation from the government and RM55 million using UA’s (public universities’) internal resources.
“For the First Semester of the 2020/2021 Academic Session, a fee reduction of RM70.2 million was provided by the public university. Meanwhile, for the Second Session of the 2020/2021 Academic Session, a reduction of RM40.5 million was given.
“This initiative has an estimated financial upshot of RM185.7 million that will benefit 386,142 students for the three semesters,” the statement said.
Last month, the MoHE confirmed that there will be no fee hike for students in Higher Education Institutions (IPT).
Its minister Datuk Seri Noraini Ahmad said the MoHE had also asked the universities not to impose fees on other activities because most students were not on campus during the Covid-19 pandemic. — Malay Mail