UNIVERSITI Teknologi Mara (UiTM) said it has held no discussions at the senate or executive council level on plans to change its student admission policy.

UiTM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Shahrin Sahib said this was in line with Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir’s statement yesterday (May 15) on the government’s commitment to UiTM’s original objectives.

“UiTM will continue to adhere to Section 1A of the UiTM Act 1976, which stipulates that UiTM was established in accordance with the provisions of Article 153 of the Federal Constitution,” he said in a statement.

“We will continue to carry out the mission and vision of this institution of empowering the Bumiputeras.”

Shahrin further urged all students to concentrate on fulfilling their responsibilities.

“Make the most of your valuable time to study and gain as much knowledge as possible for an uncertain future. This is the real struggle of a student,” he said.

Zambry had reasserted in his statement yesterday that the proposal to open UiTM admission to non-Bumiputera students had never been discussed in any ministry or Cabinet meetings.

He said certain parties deliberately created controversy around the issue in an attempt to undermine the institution’s original policy and objectives and this has resulted in confusion and disputes among various parties.

Previously, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) urged UiTM to prioritise public health policy by temporarily opening a postgraduate cardiothoracic surgery programme to non-Bumiputera (Malaysian) students.

MMA president Dr Azizan Abdul Aziz had argued that a critical shortage of specialists in the country, especially cardiothoracic surgeons, was resulting in prolonged waiting periods for critical surgeries and unnecessary deaths.

Health news portal CodeBlue previously reported that UiTM was willing to “temporarily” accept non-Bumiputera trainees from parallel pathway programmes into its cardiothoracic surgery programme.

UiTM Medical Faculty Professor Dr Raja Amin Raja Mokhtar proposed this as a solution to the issue of unrecognised parallel pathways for training in cardiothoracic surgery.

Dr Raja Amin had said that the UiTM-National Heart Institute cardiothoracic surgery parallel pathway training programme was the only one of its kind offered locally. - May 16, 2024 

https://focusmalaysia.my/uitm-no-talks-at-senate-executive-council-levels-about-changing-bumiputera-admission-policy/