The National Accreditation Board (LAN) has submitted a report on its review of the United Examination Certificate (UEC) to the Higher Learning Ministry.

LAN senior manager of public accreditation Zokrie Othman confirmed this when contacted yesterday.

Last week, malaysiakini reported that the Board had requested for the UEC syllabus, via a letter dated Sept 2, from Chinese education movement Dong Jiao Zong.

The letter, signed by Zokrie, had left out the UEC in its listing of academic requirements to enter private colleges and universities.

However, the letter added that although UEC was not on the list, private colleges and universities were still accepting students who have sat for the examination and this has not been a problem with the ministry.

Despite not being recognised in Malaysia, students with UEC qualifications are accepted by the United Kingdom, United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and Singapore.

A LAN official, who declined to be named, said the review was carried out to determine if the examination's syllabus corresponded with the standards set by the Board.

On whether the government would recognise UEC, he replied that it would be 'impossible' for public higher learning institutions to accept these students.

No follow-up

Meanwhile, Dong Jiao Zong chief executive officer Bock Tai Hee said the movement will not seek answers from LAN regarding the review.

"How can we follow up? They did not even let us know why they needed our syllabus. We are not sure whether they even need it for an assessment," he added when contacted.

The UEC is restricted to students from 60 independent Chinese secondary schools in Malaysia.

There are three levels of examination under the UEC: Vocational Unified Exam (UEC-V), UEC (Junior Middle Level-JML) and UEC (Senior Middle Level-SML).

All the examination subjects in UEC-V and JML are in Chinese, but for the SML, mathematics and science subjects (biology, chemistry and physic), book keeping, accounting and commerce are set in Chinese and English.

Chinese educationists have always accused the government of sidelining Chinese education, stating that this was the reason why UEC was never recognised.