ALOR STAR: Kedah Higher Education Committee chairman Dr Haim Hilman Abdullah has defended his remarks regarding alleged "backdoor" admissions to public universities.
"I was pointing out the challenges faced by underprivileged students who meet the minimum requirements but are denied access to competitive programmes like engineering, law, and accounting due to high merit cut-offs," he said in a statement yesterday (Dec 26).
Haim's initial "backdoor" admissions remark, however, was immediately denied by the Public Universities Vice-Chancellors and Rectors Committee on Wednesday.
The committee chairman, Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Ekhwan Toriman, stated in a statement that the 'backdoor' method of admitting students to any public university in Malaysia has never existed.
Prof Mohd Ekhwan explained that most admissions via the government-subsidised mainstream channel are from the B40 group, while the commercial channel caters to the T20 and international groups.
He added that funds from the commercial channel are utilised to develop learning and teaching facilities, as well as student accommodation.
Nevertheless, Haim questioned why seats designated for merit-based admissions are diverted to commercial intakes with lower academic thresholds, arguing that this disadvantages low-income families.
"For instance, a student with a CGPA of 3.90 may miss out on a seat due to a merit cut-off of 3.95, even though the minimum requirement for the programme is 3.50.
"Commercial channel students with CGPAs as low as 3.50 gain admission simply by paying higher fees," he said.
Haim also claimed there was discrimination due to fee disparities, noting that while mainstream students pay around RM1,300 per semester, commercial channel students face fees exceeding RM4,200 per semester for the same facilities.
"Both groups share the same classrooms and facilities, yet their costs differ significantly. Isn't this discrimination? Students with better merit but unable to afford full fees lose out to commercial intakes, while those paying higher fees gain no added benefits over their mainstream peers," he said.
Haim criticised the practice of relying on commercial intakes to generate revenue, saying it undermines the principle of meritocracy. As a solution, he proposed establishing separate wings or campuses for commercial programmes to ensure fairness for mainstream applicants.
"This approach enables universities to generate income without compromising fairness," he said, urging public universities to adopt more strategic revenue-generation methods.