LETTER | Universiti Malaya (UM) recently clarified its accounting programme intake. It offers 85 seats via UPU, 28 from its foundation programme, and 30-50 through private channels.
That’s roughly 160 spots, yet 2,291 students applied, and 1,127 scored full marks. One candidate with a perfect 4.0 CGPA and a 9.9 co-curricular score was ranked 1,129th and rejected.
The system is bursting with high achievers, but the bottleneck is real.
As a UM alumnus and human capital development consultant, I share MCA president Wee Ka Siong’s concern: why are top scorers - especially those from B40 families - being pushed toward expensive private channels just to study at public universities?
These students aren’t just numbers; they’re passionate about accounting. Redirecting them to generic alternatives like business or management is a disservice to their ambition.
Malaysia is racing towards high-income status by 2030, and we’ll need 60,000 professional accountants to get there. But according to the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA), we’re nowhere near that target.
The government has poured millions into upskilling via HRD Corp, Yayasan Peneraju, Mara, Khazanah, and TalentCorp.
Yet we’re still asking, are these reskilled graduates even interested in finance anymore, especially with information technology and artificial intelligence stealing the spotlight?
Why not start earlier? Prioritise high-performing students, regardless of background, at the tertiary level. Don’t wait until after graduation to spend more public funds on retraining.
Accounting doesn’t require expensive labs or workshops. Existing lecture halls and online platforms can easily support larger cohorts.
UM should expand its accounting intake to at least 400–500 seats. And let’s be clear, local students must be prioritised over international ones, as practised in neighbouring countries.
Even Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), founded to uplift bumiputera students, has stopped recruiting international students to maximise access for locals. That’s a model worth emulating - especially in high-demand programmes like accounting.
The Higher Education Ministry must move beyond defending outdated systems.
Reform the admissions process to reflect national goals. Public universities need sustainable funding, yes, but selling seats through high-fee channels shouldn’t be the go-to strategy.
Vice-Chancellors should focus on research grants, tech transfer, consultancy, intellectual property commercialisation, and public-private partnerships.
They should also appoint leaders who can balance academic excellence with financial sustainability without sidelining deserving students.
Malaysia’s future workforce depends on bold reform. Admissions must be fair, transparent, and aligned with industry demand. This isn’t a race-based issue, but a national one. And it’s time we treated it that way.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
