PUBLIC institutions of higher learning must make the admission process more transparent so students are informed of why they did not secure a place in the universities, Parti Bangsa Malaysia’s Muniraa Abu Bakar said.

The party’s women’s wing chief made the call following the failure of high scorers to gain admission into the local public universities.

“Parti Bangsa Malaysia strongly feels the rejection of these high scorers with no specified reasons is highly demoralising and also contributes greatly to the brain drain in the country,” she said referring to a widely shared social media post by a student.

The student wrote that a mechanical engineering diploma holder from Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Polytechnic in Kuantan failed to get a place on a degree programme even though he had a  cumulative grade point average of 3.95.

He subsequently applied to universities in the United Kingdom and received two offers.

Muniraa said it was unacceptable that high scorers are rejected by local universities but attractive to foreign universities.

She said many students with good grades have been forced to join the workforce after secondary school after they were turned away by local universities.

She urged the government to pay more attention to the matter to avoid losing the nation’s brightest minds to other countries.

“There are more than two million Malaysians living and working abroad, many of whom are professionals. PBM believes one reason for this is because many students were unable to secure a place in any of the local public universities, forcing them to pursue their education overseas. 

“Once they were there, many were likely offered jobs upon completing their studies and have since continued to live there.

“However, only rich students are able to pursue their studies abroad or at local private universities.

“What happens to students who are poor but have excellent scores and have been rejected by the local public universities? These students are then forced into employment.
 
“This situation is greatly troubling and warrants immediate attention. PBM urges those concerned to immediately look into this and come up with a workable solution before more local talents are wasted.” – September 29, 2022.