(Oct 27): Universities will suffer after Putrajaya reduced its allocation for higher education in Budget 2016, says Seri Setia assemblyman Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.
The allocation at RM41.3 billion – which is a RM1.4 billion decrease – was the lowest ever for higher education since Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak took over in 2009, he added.
“At 12.04% of the total budget, it is a marked decrease from the 34.55% of the total allocated budget in 2010.
“The quality of local higher education institutions has been declining despite the country brimming with talent,” said Nik Nazmi who is the Selangor executive councillor for education, human capital development, science, technology and innovation.
He said the cut would inevitably raise issues such as reduced enrolment at universities and whether students would receive less attention given that the focus would be on acquiring funds.
He added that the reduction was also announced amid recent issues such as policies on Mara and JPA scholarships being altered mid-stream and the welfare of students coming into question.
“Places in universities have been reduced for two consecutive years while students who qualify to go to universities are rising.
“Students who do not get a place or relevant course in public universities end up in private universities and colleges and rely on PTPTN loans. Yet PTPTN loans have been cut between 15 to 25%," Nik Nazmi said, referring to the National Higher Education Fund by its Malay abbreviation.
He added that Putrajaya's rationale that the budget cut was in line with encouraging universities to be self-funding was unjustifiable.
This goal was announced in the Higher Education Blueprint this year, but Nik Nazmi said it was unrealistic to expect universities to achieve it so soon.
“All of these raises the question whether the government has given up on higher education altogether and would rather gamble on the fate of the future generation in order close the financial potholes caused by Najib's administration,” he said. – The Malaysian Insider