THE government has no plans to open Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) to non-Bumiputera students as the status quo is needed to ensure the socioeconomic gap between races can be closed.

Higher Education Minister Zambry Abd Kadir, answering questions in the Dewan Rakyat today, said UiTM must remain a Bumiputera-only institution of higher learning.

“The report from the Bumiputera Economic Congress in 2024 by the Economy Ministry shows that there is still an economic gap involving Bumiputera in terms of the average monthly income, corporate equity holdings, poverty rate, production of skilled workforce and professional qualifications.

“In fact, the absolute poverty rate among Bumiputera still needs continuous efforts to see improvement.

“Therefore, maintaining the UiTM policy for the Malays, Orang Asli and the people of Sabah and Sarawak is still needed in an effort to realise the government’s wishes in bridging the gap between races,” Zambry was quoted as saying in Malaysiakini.

He was responding to a question from Ramkarpal Singh (Bukit Gelugor-PH), who asked if the government will amend the UiTM Act to enable entry for non-Bumiputera students.

The call to open UiTM to all races started with the issue regarding the cardiothoracic surgery postgraduate programme for local doctors who want to go into specialisation.

At present, only UiTM offers the programmes in collaboration with the National Heart Institute, leaving non-Bumiputera doctors in a lurch.

However, Zambry said today that Universiti Malaya will begin offering the programme this October, followed by other universities.

“The ministry is trying its best to find the best approach to resolve this issue. A discussion has also been held with UM and UM Medical Centre for the programme to be offered at the university.

“God willing, we are expecting UM to offer this programme by October so that those who want to pursue this programme can do so there. (And) subsequently, it will be followed by other universities,” he said. – June 26, 2024.