KUALA LUMPUR – A total of 1,994 students were accused of committing wrongdoings under the Universities and University Colleges Act (Auku) 1971 from 2018 to 2023, said Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir.
Zambry said the offences were divided into two categories, which were academic offences and non-academic offences.
Based on data from 2018 to 2023, a total of 945 students have been accused under Auku of academic offences, which include cases such as copying and bringing in notes during examinations, he said.
Meanwhile, the other 1,049 students were accused of non-academic offences such as drug-related cases, social or moral issues, offences related to social media, bullying, fighting, stealing and others.
“Auku aims to establish, maintain, and administer universities and university colleges.
“The act is also the source of authority for the establishment and governance of 18 public universities and the act that links the accountability of higher education institutes to the government and society,” he said.
He said this in response to a question posed by Chow Yu Hui (Raub-PH) to state the total number of students accused under the act in the mentioned time frame.
Earlier today, PKR’s R. Yuneswaran (Segamat-PH) urged the Higher Education Ministry to consider amending Sections 15 and 16 of the act, stressing that the minister should step forth as a figure that defends the fate of students instead of giving full authority to university boards to decide students’ futures.
He added that the term of the student representatives should be determined through campus elections, stressing that the government must ensure that the autonomy provided to university boards would not be abused as a political weapon.
Expressing similar sentiments, PAS’ Ahmad Fadhli Shaari (Pasir Mas-PN) echoed calls for the term of student representative council members to be voted on during campus elections. – March 18, 2024