Ministry welcomes PAC's recommendations on public university financing

The higher Education Ministry welcomes any suggestions from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the implementation and application of the Investment and Financing Guidelines for Public Universities 2024 to subsidiaries under its supervision.

Minister Zambry Abd Kadir said the ministry believes the PAC’s findings are intended to ensure good governance while ensuring that universities are managed efficiently and effectively.

“We welcome any suggestions from the PAC because, for us, the most important thing is that their findings aim to improve governance within our universities,” he told a press conference after the handover ceremony of the Sky Global Apprenticeship Programme offer letters today.

Yesterday, PAC chairperson Mas Ermieyati Samsudin was quoted as saying that developing a set of guidelines and enforcing them would be beneficial to public universities.

Meanwhile, Zambry said the Sky Global Apprenticeship Programme is a high-impact initiative undertaken through a collaboration between the Universiti Malaysia Consortium, the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology, and Turkish Aerospace (Tusas), formalised on April 7, 2023.

The programme has been designed to provide participants with professional training in various disciplines of aerospace engineering while also offering practical experience in rapidly growing sectors such as avionics, electronic design, programming, aircraft structural design, and aircraft system assembly.

According to Zambry, such programmes offer university students insights into their chosen field while providing diverse experiences to further develop themselves.

“It is in line with the ministry’s policy, which emphasises that our approach is not limited to what students learn on campus but also broadens their education by exposing them to industry experience,” he said.

Earlier, he presented the programme offer letters to 20 students from various universities, including Universiti Malaya, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, International Islamic University Malaysia, and Universiti Sains Malaysia.

It is learned that 30 Malaysian students have been selected to participate in this year’s programme.

They will undergo professional work experience training at Turkish Aerospace in Ankara, Turkiye, with the first group scheduled from July 22 to Aug 16 and the second group from Sept 2 to 27.

According to a statement from the ministry, Tusas will sponsor accommodation and meals, manage on-site logistics, and provide an honourarium to each participant.

- Bernama

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