(Nov 12): Cuts in university allocations under Budget 2016 have nothing to do with the marketability of graduates but everything to do with the Prime Minister's Department taking the lion's share funding, DAP said today.

Liew Chin Tong, the party's political education director, said it was "patronising and absurd" for Prime Minister's Datuk Seri Najib Razak to say that more funds would be given to universities if they showed that their graduates had higher success rates in the job market.

"Universities are institutions of higher learning, not just factories to produce canned 'employable graduates' from the assembly line.

"The twin core missions of universities are to create and generate knowledge through research and to transmit knowledge through publications as well as education.

"Therefore, 'marketability' or 'employability' of graduates are not the only criteria to rate a university," Liew said in a statement today.

Malaysia's public universities will receive RM1.4 billion less next year under Budget 2016, with funding slashed for 19 out of 20 public institutions.

However, Liew said that the prime minister’s department had received a RM20.3 billion allocation under the budget for next year.

"The reduction in funding for higher education was not because of standards of academic performance or 'marketability' of graduates, but because the department has taken the lion's share of the budget," he said.

This amount was the highest ever for the department in history, at a time when allocations for most other ministries were substantially cut, Liew added.

The amount of RM8.5 billion within the allocation for the prime minister’s department was akin to a slush fund at the disposal of the prime minister without cabinet or parliamentary scrutiny, he said.

"I call on the prime minister to review Budget 2016 to slash the budget for the prime minister’s department and restore the budget for universities so as not to stifle the higher education sector. The funds should be channelled to carry out the major reforms our universities need to improve and become truly world-class."

Lim, who is also Kluang MP, rubbished the prime minister's statement that public works like the MRT project would generate jobs for graduates, saying it was either an outright lie or a reflection of Najib's inability to understand economics.

"Big projects benefit big contractors associated with the ruling party.

"These contractors often hire massive number of unskilled foreign workers.

"There would be very little job spill over for ordinary Malaysians," he said, in urging Najib to slash the budget for his department and restore the budget for universities. – The Malaysian Insider