The government, disturbed by the increasing number of students duped by devious agents who promise medical seats in overseas institutions, will amend the Higher Education Act to protect innocent students.

Higher Education Minister Mustapa Mohamed said the amendment would be tabled at the next parliamentary session to stop agents from exploiting Malaysians seeking to further their studies overseas and foreign students wanting to study in Malaysia.

"The present law does not allow us to take action against these unscrupulous agents. We are now amending the law by end of this year to empower us to take action and all agents have to register with us," he told Bernama .

Mustapa told reporters this after hearing the grouses of Malaysian students on agents who guaranteed them medical seats in Bangalore yesterday.

Last week, out of 23 Malaysian students, 20 returned home after failing the pre-university medical examination in Bangalore. These students had paid agents RM23,000 each in return for "guaranteed" medical seats in India.

Unscrupulous agents

"It is important to remind parents about these unscrupulous agents who make all kinds of false promises. There is no such thing as guaranteed seats," Mustapa said.

Close to 2,000 Malaysian students are studying in Indian medical institutions while another 2,400 are in Russian universities.

Mustapa is on a three-day visit to this Indian information technology (IT) hub to seek better cooperation with Infosys to equip Malaysian students with computer skills to enable them to obtain employment at home.

"We need about 20,000 IT skilled workers and we produce about 20,000 graduates but they do not meet the market demands. Many foreign companies are interested in investing in Malaysia but they demand more skilled workers," he added.