Suggestion for Sarawak government to lower tuition fee at its universities

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George Lam

KUCHING (Sept 26): The Sarawak government is urged to look into lowering tuition fees in three state-owned universities in accordance with the Malaysian public university rate to reduce the financial burden of Sarawakians.

George Lam, special assistant to Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong, made this call following a statement by Deputy Premier Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian that Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak, Universiti Teknologi Sarawak and Curtin University Miri Campus are 100 per cent owned by Sarawak government.

Lowering the tuition fee at the aforementioned universities will encourage more Sarawakians to further their studies in these universities, he reasoned.

“To complete a degree course from Foundation in Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak and Curtin University is in the range of RM80,000 to RM140,000, depending on the courses; in Universiti Teknologi Sarawak it is slightly lower which is in the range from RM40,000 to RM100,000.

“This shows that the tuition fee of these universities is far higher than public universities in Malaysia. Even with the financial aid from PTPTN (National Higher Education Fund Corporation) and Yayasan Sarawak which offer education loans to students who study in these universities, many people are still afraid of the financial burden of loan repayment after completion of the course.

“I wish to emphasise that with the 100 per cent ownership of these three universities by the Sarawak government, the universities are considered as public university, the tuition fee for further study in these universities should be subsidised for Sarawakians, let Sarawakians enjoy public university rate in these universities,” he said in a statement.

Being a graduate from Swinburne Sarawak, Lam said after graduation he currently has an education loan of almost RM100,000, and he has to spend more than RM300 for the loan repayment each month for the term of 15 years.

“Recently due to inflation, these universities once again increased the tuition fee. The students are now facing more financial burden,” he added.

Aside from that, he hoped that all the plans from these universities should benefit all Sarawakians as a whole.

He said this as recently, Yayasan Sarawak offers public universities-rate tuition fee for Bumiputeras in Sarawak only but not for all Sarawakians.