KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 — The Ministry of Higher Education (KPT) is of the view that the approach of amending the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 (AUKU) is a more appropriate step than directly repealing the act as a whole.
Its deputy minister Datuk Mohammad Yusof Apdal said this after seeing the importance of AUKU in matters of establishment and governance, and accountability of higher education institutes (IPTs) to the government and society.
"KPT is of the opinion that AUKU is an important, relevant and well-functioning act and any weaknesses found in it can be refined and improved through amendments and not by repealing it.
"The introduction of a new act to replace it will only see it taking back and reapplying most of the existing provisions in AUKU. This action will not change... it is just like copying the (same) skin," he said during the question-and-answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today.
Mohammad Yusof was responding to Raub MP Chow Yu Hui's question about the ministry's willingness to repeal AUKU and replace it with the New Higher Education Act, based on the policy paper of the AUKU Repeal Technical Committee which was established in 2018 along with the timeline and work plan for an AUKU repeal.
Regarding the 2018 Technical Committee of AUKU Implementation, Repeal and Amendment, he said the committee's recommendations and findings have been acted upon and there are a number of matters that are being fine-tuned.
These include taking into account the AUKU amendment in 2019 which allows students to be involved in politics on and outside campuses and to contest in elections with the implementation of the first phase being finalised.
"These involve developing some appropriate guidelines aimed at giving more freedom to students in managing student activities and in participating in political activities on and off campus in a safe and orderly manner.
"These are currently in the fine-tuning stage before being distributed to all public universities for action and implementation, while the second phase will see the need to amend or repeal some of the subsequent provisions in AUKU," Mohammad Yusof said.
He added the ministry is also examining all the provisions related to students in the AUKU, particularly regarding accounts and financial affairs of student associations.
— Bernama
