KUALA LUMPUR: The Higher Education Ministry has assured that admissions to public universities through the open channel will not affect quotas allocated through the centralised UPU system.
Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir said open-channel admissions accounted for only a small percentage of intake and were limited to courses with available places, rather than being driven solely by revenue considerations.
"I would like to inform this House that this issue does not arise at all, as we will maintain the quotas that have been set," he said when winding up the debate on the Supply Bill 2027 at the policy stage for his ministry in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
On tuition fee differences, Zambry acknowledged that they existed, particularly for critical courses.
He said the government continued to increase allocations and quotas for fields such as accounting, engineering and artificial intelligence to accommodate the high number of qualified students.
He said that poverty or financial constraints should not prevent students from accepting offers to study at public universities, as various forms of financial assistance were available.
"The government provides various forms of financial support covering tuition fees and living allowances, including the Community College Student Financial Assistance, Foundation Financial Assistance and B40 TVET Scholarships," he added.
Meanwhile, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing said Malaysia recorded 32.26 million international visitor arrivals from January to September this year, a 2.4 per cent increase from the same period last year.
He said the government continued to intensify tourism promotion using existing allocations to sustain growth, particularly amid global geopolitical challenges affecting travel plans.
To improve international connectivity, Tiong said Tourism Malaysia had partnered 24 airlines – three domestic and 21 international – to support 46 international routes from January to October this year.
"Of these, 35 were new routes while the remaining 11 were existing routes that continued to operate. They included Xi'an-Kuala Lumpur, Guiyang-Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai-Tawau, Xiamen-Kota Kinabalu, Busan-Kuala Lumpur and Frankfurt-Kuala Lumpur, as well as charter flights from Warsaw, Poland, and Almaty, Kazakhstan, scheduled for December," he said.
The business events segment, including meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE), also performed well, with its economic impact rising 113.7 per cent to RM1.24 billion in the second quarter of this year.
The number of events increased 81.2 per cent to 125, while international delegate attendance rose 105.2 per cent to 83,596.
Tiong said RM10 million had been allocated to the Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) to attract more high-impact MICE and international sporting events. Tax incentives for organising international-standard events had also been extended for 2028 to 2030.
Meanwhile, Deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Seri Dr Ramli Mohd Nor thanked the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry for its cooperation in organising the Sewang Festival, which brought together 18 Orang Asli ethnic groups on Oct 24.
He said the festival had the potential to attract international tourists, with a national-level edition targeted for next year.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd