De facto Pakatan Harapan leader Anwar Ibrahim will meet with Education Minister Maszlee Malik next week to discuss decisions made by the latter which have not been well-received. 

"Maszlee is a good academician and capable, but a few decisions he has made have been perceived negatively.

"I think this can be fixed through dialogue, so Insya Allah, I will see him next week to discuss how to rectify this," Anwar said during a youth dialogue in Kuala Lumpur today.

Of late, Maszlee has come under heavy criticism over his appointment as president of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM).

Several student activists who staged a sit-in earlier this month in front of the Education Ministry in protest against the appointment were arrested, but released on the same day.

Maszlee eventually met with the student activists last Wednesday, who gave him a week to step down from the IIUM post.

"The meeting ended with us giving him seven days to resign immediately, or we will gather and mobilise more people to rally against him," activist Asheeq Ali Sethi Alivi had said.

Anwar, who served as education minister from 1986 to 1991, said that he was also offered the post of IIUM president recently, but decided to turn it down.

Meanwhile, in a statement later, Maszlee said he welcomed Anwar's plan to meet him next week.

"Whatever views and advice shared by Anwar as a Harapan leader and former education minister will help my leadership in heading the Education Ministry.

"I have taken into account several of his views in the past," he said.