University students will soon have to take a compulsory course on racial relations amid fears of a widening gap among races in the country, reports said.

The course, tentatively entitled 'Ethnic Relations in Malaysia', would help young Malaysians understand and respect each other, Higher Education Minister Shafie Mohamad Salleh said.

"I have found there is a tendency among students of the same race to hang around together and if this is left unchecked, once they have graduated, the polarisation continues," Shafie was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper.

"Although we have co-curricular activities and the sharing of rooms among different races on campus, I feel this is superficial," he said.

If left unchecked, this "polarisation... will persist and spread beyond the campus," he was quoted as saying by the New Sunday Times .

No date set yet

No date has been set for the new subject to be introduced and details of the course had yet to be decided upon, he said, adding that he would meet university officials this month for discussions on the matter.

A survey commissioned by the National Higher Education Research Institute involving over 6,000 university students last year revealed that ethnic Malays were least inclined to mix with students from other ethnic backgrounds, the New Sunday Times said.

Malays make up more than half of Malaysia's population of 25 million, with the remainder comprising ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.

In a bid to boost racial integration as well as promote patriotism, Malaysia embarked on a controversial 500-million-ringgit national service program this year.

The troubled scheme has seen numerous reports of race-based fighting in the camps since its inception.