A special committee will be set up to amend the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) 1971 to allow students aged 21 and above to join political parties as announced by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak recently.

usm apex university 040908 mohamed khaled nordin Higher Education Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin ( left ) said the committee will begin drafting the amendment as soon as it was green-lighted by the Cabinet.

"It is hoped that the amendment can be tabled to Parliament in March," he told reporters after opening the High End Industry Graduate Internship Programme at Putrajaya today.

Mohamed Khaled said the amendment would focus on two main principles namely that students could not bring partisan politics into the campuses, and that only those aged 21 and above would be allowed to join political parties.

He said the amendment on the UUCA would benefit over one million students at the public institutions of higher learning (IPTA).

However, he said to enable those in private institutions of higher learning (IPTS), including teaching institutes, polytechnics and Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), to also join politics, several relevant Acts would also be amended.

"We will seek the opinion of all quarters, including students and academicians. Besides holding meetings and briefings, we will also focus on the use of social media to get as much input as we can. I hope all quarters will support and adhere to the amendment when it finally takes effect," he said.

Foreign students

In another development, Mohamed Khaled said a special unit would also be established under the ministry's IPTS Division to tackle all complaints and issues concerning foreign students in the country.

He said various complaints had been made pertaining to the issues, but they were not properly resolved by the IPTS, and hence, tarnished the image of Malaysia as the educational hub for foreign students.

The minister said IPTS should be more responsible of their foreign students, including by ensuring that the students had legal travel documents and did not violated the laws.

On the case where 36 foreign students of a private college in Negeri Sembilan were arrested by the state's immigration department personnel for committing offences like overstaying their student passes and possessing fake student passes,

Mohamed Khaled said the ministry's IPTS Division had been instructed to investigate the case and if convicted, the licence given to the college to bring foreign students into the country would be revoked.

 - Bernama