PARLIAMENT Rural and Regional Development Minister Ismail Sabri skirted round a query on the real reason why Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) has stopped sponsoring students to study at Taylor's University.

Instead, his written reply to Nga Kor Ming (DAP-Taiping) listed how many students the council has sponsored thus far.

"For your information, up till September 2015, 521 students sponsored by Mara have studied under various courses at Taylor's University in many fields including foundation programmes, bachelor degrees, masters and other programmes.

"The sum total is a big amount for an institution of higher learning. The sponsorship of students by Mara in institutions of higher learning, including Taylor's, is done according to current needs," the written reply read.

On Sept 21, Ismail said Mara will no longer sponsor future students to Taylor's.

He said there were multiple reasons for this, but did not list them.

It is believed that Taylor's decision to terminate the contract of a bus provider who ferried protesters for the Sept 16 red shirt rally is one of them.

Mara students already studying at the university are not affected.