UNIVERSITI Malaya (UM) has agreed to postpone its tuition fee increment announced earlier to involve only new students of the 2022/2023 academic session.

In a statement, UM Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Mohd Hamdi Abdul Shukor said the decision was made to safeguard the welfare of students, especially after the country was hit by the Covid-19 epidemic.

“Although the programmes offered (in UM) are among the best in the world and require high expenses such as rising accreditation costs, we agreed to refine the decision of fee hike due to the current Covid-19 situation,” he said. 

He added that the university management will have student representatives involved in the UM fees committee to get feedback on tuition fees. 

Yesterday, Universiti Malaya Students’ Union questioned the university over its decision to increase course fees for the 2021/22 session.

They also demanded an explanation on why arts stream programmes have seen greater increment compared to the science stream, where the use of practical tools is included. 

The Higher Education Ministry had confirmed on June 30 that there will be no fee hike for students in tertiary level institutions.

Hamdi today responded that the university will honour the wishes of the higher education minister to prioritise the welfare of the students. – October 3, 2021.