See how the Criminals in Government act again the local..Joshua
Private Sabah colleges cry foul
Published on: Thursday, July 11, 2013
http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=86052
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Sabah Private Higher Learning Institution Association President Datuk Wong Khen Thau said although the Government recently stopped the issuance of licences for new IPTS, at the same time there is no policy to control other colleges from setting up branches in the State.
"There are lot of colleges branching out to the State from the peninsula.
This is an issue that we seriously need to look at, as we need to give more chances to the existing local IPTS to grow," he said.
He said the Government should have a proper control on this, like only giving consideration to those universities or colleges in the peninsula to expand or open up branches in Sabah "if they offer courses that we do not have presently in the State".
"Unless the local IPTS have no more capacity to accommodate the students in Sabah then it is justifiable É at the moment we still have the capacity to accommodate," he said, hoping the Government would look at this seriously.
Wong said this when met after he led a delegation from the association in paying a courtesy call on State Resource Development and Information Technology Minister, Datuk Siringan Gubat, at his office in Wisma Bandaraya, Wednesday.
Wong also said the IPTS in Sabah would not be able to help the Government attract foreign students because the present study fee structure imposed by certain IPTAs in Sabah is way too low than what they are able to offer.
This is akin to the IPTAs subsidising the foreign students to come and study in Sabah, he said.
He cited an IPTA in the State which is charging a foreign student as low as RM3,500 per year, which is about three to four times lower than what the IPTS are charging local students.
"Both the IPTAs and IPTS are tasked with promoting Malaysia to the world, but we do not receive very much assistance from the government in this aspect," he said.
"In fact the study fees charged by the IPTS in Sabah are the cheapest in the whole countryÉso we can say that Malaysia through the IPTAs are indirectly subsidising foreign students to come to study in this country.
"Is such a policy fair to the IPTS and local students?
Why can't the government then look at, instead of subsidising the foreign students, helping the local students by subsidising them to study at the IPTS here, which would be more sensible?" he said.
He said in any country in the world their universities would always charge foreign students the most. "But only in Malaysia, that is in Sabah, we charge the foreign students less.
I am talking about the IPTAs, as the IPTS are always charging the foreign students more and only the IPTAs are doing different things," he said.
"I am not saying all the IPTAs are doing the same but that they have autonomy to do what they like.
"So this is one of the great challenges that we are facing.
We have foreign students coming in and telling us why should they go and study at our private higher learning institutions when they can go to the public institutions where the study fees are much, much cheaper.
"We are asked to fight the battle, to recruit more foreign students, but at the same time we are facing this scenario. So we are actually slapping our own face. This is the dilemma most of the IPTS in Sabah are having," he said.
Commenting on the call by State Minister with Special Functions Datuk Teo Chee Kang for renowned foreign varsities to set up campuses in Sabah, Wong said the association has no objection if it means top rated universities which can offer something none of the local universities or colleges have to offer.
"We do not object to this proposal because we already have a number of universities and colleges which support the needs, except maybe for very specialised education courses which we still do not have here, which would be okay if we can introduce it here," he said.
"But the market in Sabah is not that big for such specialised courses like medical doctor and engineering. Although we are in need of doctors, engineers and so on, we do not have that kind of supply of local studentsÉmeaning if we are to offer such specialised courses at this point of time there would not be many takers," he added.
"And it is probably cheaper still to go and study such kind of specialised courses overseas or in the peninsula itself."
"And if you bring in universities which are not even properly rated in their own country it will only defeat the purpose.
"We are talking about Malaysia wanting to become a centre of education excellence, the Government must make sure that the local universities and colleges are able to grow to that level," he said.
"If not the question is where are we? Are we promoting Malaysia as a centre of education excellence while at the same time we do not trust or practise double standards on our local higher learning institutions?"
"So lets look at things carefully. We need to do a lot of studies before bringing in foreign universities.
If we can bring in top rated universities, then it would be more beneficial because it would bring along many foreign students to come into the State for further study," said Wong.
But you are just talking about ordinary universities, then you should give priority to the local universities to grow.
" Malaysia has also been talking about turning education into another source of revenue for the country, through the entry of many foreign students, and we feel that all the private higher learning institutions are able to cater to all the needs in SabahÉand since the IPTS and IPTA in the country are now at the same level in terms of education quality and so on, we hope there is still a lot capacity for all us to support whatever is required in Sabah," he said.
During the meeting with Siringan, Wong also expressed the association's hope to work closely with his Ministry, especially in meeting the Government's needs in terms of manpower training.
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