Government to review education fees

Friday June 6, 2008

Government to review education fees


The Government will review the fees paid by international students at public universities to reflect the true cost of their studies.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Khaled Nordin said only Malaysians should be subsidised and not foreign students.

"Foreign students should pay whatever is equivalent to the cost of their studies. We will look into the current fee structure," he said in an interview.

The Government subsidises 90% of the cost of educating a local undergraduate at public universities. Currently, public universities are allowed to have up to 5% of their undergraduate intake from overseas.

Tuition fees paid by foreign students at the universities vary. At Universiti Malaya, for instance, foreign undergraduates pay about three times more than locals, and their fees range from RM12,000 for Islamic studies to RM21,000 (engineering) for the duration of their course.

Khaled, however, said that any review must be balanced with Malaysia's aim to become an educational hub for foreign students.

"Our priority is to get more international students to come to Malaysia.

"Once Malaysia has become a popular destination for further studies, even if we increase the fees, foreign students will still come," he said.

The Government has set a target of 100,000 foreign students enrolled in both public and private education institutions.

Currently, there are about 50,000 but the figure includes those in primary and secondary schools.

A strong foreign student presence on local campuses is also important for university ranking purposes as it is often used as a criterion. Khaled also said foreigners were not allowed to enrol in certain critical courses to ensure that only Malaysians benefited from them.