KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 — The Higher Education Ministry (MoHE) has stressed that students living in rented accommodation off campus should inform their universities of their place of residence to facilitate monitoring.
Its minister, Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir, said monitoring was difficult because some students arranged their own rental accommodation without going through their universities.
“So, that makes it rather difficult for us to monitor them. What we emphasise, however, is that they should always inform us of their whereabouts and where they are staying,” he said during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to a supplementary question from Dr Ahmad Fakhruddin Fakhrurazi (PN-Kuala Kedah) on the ministry’s proposal to work with state governments and property owners to provide student rental accommodation at controlled rates near public higher education institutions (IPTAs), pending the completion of new residential colleges.
Zambry said some public universities and polytechnics worked with their student affairs divisions to manage accommodation in designated areas, while some students opted to rent accommodation independently.
He said the proposal to provide student rental accommodation at controlled rates was also being considered to meet undergraduates’ housing needs, but its implementation would depend on the capacity of the universities concerned and their financial positions.
The proposal had also been raised by student representative councils, with several universities identified as requiring greater attention and priority in terms of student accommodation.
On targeted rental assistance for B40 students who failed to secure places in residential colleges, Zambry said priority was given to this group, along with students with disabilities, athletes and uniformed corps members, for hostel accommodation.
In reply to the original question from Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PH-Bandar Tun Razak) on efforts to address the shortage of accommodation at IPTAs, he said the government was working with government-linked investment companies (GLICs) to develop student accommodation facilities.
These included the Universiti Malaya Student Residence, which is expected to be completed in 2031 and benefit 10,000 students.
In addition, Budget 2027 announced a RM750 million allocation by the Retirement Fund (Incorporated) (KWAP) for the development of the Vista Kampus project at Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), before it is expanded to six other universities.
Responding to a supplementary question from Dr Wan Azizah on incentives for the private sector to develop residential colleges, Zambry said MoHE, Finance Ministry, KWAP and the Public Private Partnership Unit (UKAS) were discussing ways to strengthen a hybrid public-private partnership (PPP) approach. — Bernama