Global economic body urges Malaysia to widen university access

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (MNTV) — Malaysia should widen access to public universities, give more weight to academic merit in admissions, and grant universities greater autonomy, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said in its latest Economic Survey of Malaysia, The Edge Malaysia reported.

The body said bumiputera students — ethnic Malays and Indigenous groups, who benefit from long-standing affirmative-action preferences — accounted for 82 percent of public-university enrolment even after excluding UiTM, a university that admits only bumiputera students.

Though race-based admission quotas were abolished in 2002, it said the matriculation pathway still favors those students over the ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities, and that the harder route for minority applicants may be contributing to brain drain.

It urged broader access for all students and greater university autonomy over selection, paired with stronger accountability.

Separately, the OECD recommended Malaysia extend free and compulsory preschool to three- and four-year-olds, currently compulsory only from age five.

Citing a UNESCO study, it said average preschool enrolment in countries with free compulsory education roughly doubled from 41.4 percent in 1999 to 82.8 percent in 2018, far outpacing countries without it.

Providing one free preschool year would cost about 0.2 percent of GDP, the OECD estimated, with extending it to younger children requiring another 0.2 percent — an investment it said would yield strong returns given the importance of early development.

Malaysia’s preschool spending has doubled to around 2 percent of the Education Ministry’s budget but remains far below spending on primary and secondary education.