The weight of the subsidy system on public universities

In Malaysia, there is a yawning gap between the cost of attending a public university and that of going to a private institution. 

While a single semester at a private university can run into tens of thousands of ringgit, entire degrees in professions such as accountancy and dentistry can be completed for a fraction of the fees. 

But whether the subsidy system employed to keep the fees down at public varsities is necessarily a good thing is the subject of some debate. 

For Noor Azlan Ghazali, the former vice-chancellor of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), the minimal fees do not reflect the achievements of Malaysia's institutions of higher education.

"Take Universiti Malaysia (UM) for example," he said. "It's ranked among the top 100 in the world, but its fees do not correspond with its position." 

UM, Malaysia's oldest institution of higher education, has maintained its place in the top 100 of the Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings for five years in a row now. 

Other universities such as UKM and Universiti Putra Malaysia ranked in the top 130 this year while Universiti Sains Malaysia placed in the top 150. 

Taylor's University meanwhile has been named the number one private university in Southeast Asia for three years running. 

For Azlan, a better performance by the university in question should be matched by its fees. 

"I am more inclined towards the belief that if the university's services, for example in terms of education and academic programmes, are truly good, the fees should be higher," he said. 

Subsidies

Fees are lower at public universities throughout the country for the simple reason that students are given government subsidies of roughly 90%. 

Total tuition fees for professional majors such as accounting, dentistry or pharmacy stand at about RM40,000 for four years or eight semesters at a public university. 

Majors in the social sciences, education, languages and the arts, meanwhile, involve costs of RM22,000 to RM25,000, depending on the university.

Students however are charged about RM2,000 to RM3,000 per semester, with the rest borne by the government. 

Subsidies for tuition and education fees at public institutions were introduced in the late 1980s and expanded in the 1990s. 

Today, they also remain an established practice in other matters such as textbook loans and supplementary meal plans. 

But Azlan, who led UKM for five years, said many were taking advantage of the subsidies system. 

He said the biggest mistake was assuming that all university students were poor and unable to afford an education. 

"This is wrong, completely wrong," he said, adding that a profile check of the students enrolled in professional majors would, in many cases, show the opposite instead. 

"We take it for granted, we assume that everybody is poor." 

He said during his time as the vice-chancellor of UKM, he had proposed a new concept to the government in which tuition subsidies at public universities would be given in a three-tier system. 

"First of all, the government must be bold enough to say: 'Yes, we will give subsidies, but only to those who need them'," he said. 

This first tier would involve students from the low-income bracket, who would be subsidised to the point where they would only need to pay 10% of the total fees.

The second tier, meanwhile, would involve students in the middle-income range who would pay about 40% of the total tuition fees.

The most affordable students would be bracketed in the third tier, and would pay about 60% to 70% of the total fees. 

Azlan, an economist by training, said his research and calculations showed that such a system would help universities achieve the status and prestige of a higher education institution of the same calibre as those in other countries. 

"When you have three tiers like this, that in itself would actually go a long way towards supporting the university's income," he said. 

"But in Malaysia, this method has been used for so long."

While providing education for low fees might look good, he said, it would ultimately affect many other things including the retention of a qualified workforce, infrastructure and facilities. 

He recalled incidents in which the families of students had asked if the university provided single rooms and amenities such as air conditioning and hot water in the showers. 

When told that it did, he said, they were very grateful. 

"But they had to pay the highest fees," he added. "And they were willing to pay. If you asked me, if I had to pay a bit more, I would take it, too. 

"This is why I say, we need to redesign the subsidy system."