KUALA LUMPUR: Urgent reforms are needed in the university admissions system to address disparities in access to higher education based on different pre-university pathways and ethnic backgrounds, says a member of parliament.
Raub MP Chow Yu Hui called for the unification of matriculation and the Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia (STPM) to enable students from national secondary schools, irrespective of ethnicity, to undertake standardised examinations.
This, he said, would uphold the principle of fair admissions, as matriculation students are given priority for popular courses in public universities compared to STPM.
"Matriculation, with a Bumiputera quota of 90 per cent and prioritisation in public universities, gains an 'unfair advantage' and causes 'structural violence', despite the abolishment of ethnic quotas in public universities 20 years ago.
"With only 10 per cent allocated for non-Bumiputera students to enroll in matriculation, a high-achieving non-Bumiputera SPM student in the science field is forced to pursue STPM if unable to enter matriculation, presenting the first challenge.
"Even if successful in STPM, they face intense competition with matriculation students during the university admission process, posing the second challenge. Consequently, non-Bumiputera students from the STPM pathway encounter double hardships in their university entry journey," he added in a statement.
He cited statistics from the Higher Education Ministry, revealing the limited offers extended to STPM graduates for Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmacy programmes through the UPU system.
The number of offers extended to STPM graduates for a Medicine programme through UPU for the academic session 2021/2022 was 10 students, which is (18.6 per cent) and 13 or (14.4 per cent) for the 2022/2023 session and 16 or (10.53 per cent) for 2023/2024 session.
For the Dentistry programme, there were no offers to STPM graduates for the 2021/2022 academic session, and there was only one offer for the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 academic session, constituting 4.35 per cent and 4.76 per cent, respectively.
Meanwhile, for the Pharmacy programme, there were six offers (16.67 per cent) in the 2021/2022 academic session, four offers (8.89 per cent) in the 2022/2023 academic session, and 10 offers (13.89 per cent) in the 2023/2024 academic session.
"These figures are too low, and I want to draw attention to the public that these numbers are not for a single university but for all universities under the online UPU system.
"This also highlighted the low opportunities for excellent STPM students. An outstanding SPM graduate failing to enroll in matriculation faces slim chances of entering competitive courses, particularly in top universities compared to matriculation students," said Chow.
He urged the government to shift from a quota system to an affirmative approach, allocating 20 per cent of spots for students from underprivileged backgrounds regardless of race and religion.
Additionally, he proposed a "bonus mark" system favouring disadvantaged students in the admissions process.
"For instance, if a B40 student scores 3.0 in STPM, they will receive an additional 5 percent bonus marks, making their total score 3.15. This step will ensure protection for the less fortunate Malay, Chinese, Indian, indigenous, Iban, and Kadazan communities," he said.
He was commenting on Universiti Teknologi Melaka Royal Education Award recipient Nahvin Muthusamy's speech at his recent convocation ceremony on the significance of providing equal opportunities to students, irrespective of their family, social, and racial backgrounds which has since gone viral.
The Bachelor of Computer Science graduate asserted that the government and public universities should practise meritocracy over divisive quotas.
Nahvin had narrated a story about his deceased secondary school friend who couldn't secure a matriculation spot despite having only one fewer 'A' compared to Nahvin's own results in the SPM examination and expressed surprise upon discovering that some matriculation students had lower academic achievements than his friend when he entered the program.
Chow had commended Nahvin's bravery and expressed his sympathy to his late friend.