KUCHING: The Sarawak Free Tertiary Education Scheme (FTES) does not change existing academic and legal requirements, including the need for students to meet the Bahasa Melayu requirement before being awarded degrees by private higher education institutions (IPTS).

Sarawak Deputy Minister for Education, Innovation and Talent Development Datuk Dr Annuar Rapaee said FTES is an education financing scheme that enables Sarawakians to pursue higher education free of charge, and it is not a policy that changes existing admission or degree award requirements.

He said this is in line with Section 41(5) of the Private Higher Educational Institutions Act 1996 (Act 555), which stipulates national language proficiency requirements for IPTS students.

“Any Sarawakian admitted to the four institutions offering the 64 programmes under FTES will automatically qualify for free tertiary education.

“However, every student must still comply with the legal requirements on the awarding of degrees,” he said at a press conference at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) Complex on Wednesday.

Elaborating further, he explained that these requirements differ from the admission criteria for public higher education institutions (IPTAs), which require students to obtain a credit in Bahasa Melayu at the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) level.

“The law does not stipulate Bahasa Melayu as a requirement for admission to private universities, but students must attain the prescribed level of proficiency in the national language before obtaining their degrees.

“If they do not possess the required Bahasa Melayu qualification, they must take and pass the ‘Bahasa Kebangsaan A’ subject under Mata Pelajaran Umum (MPU) before graduating,” he explained.

Datuk Dr Annuar also stressed that the four Sarawak Government-owned higher education institutions, namely University of Technology Sarawak (UTS), i-CATS University College, Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus and Curtin University Malaysia, remain subject to Act 555. -UKASnews

Prepared by: Eisner Nala
Photo: Ibanez Jeffery
Translator: Uilson Ng