Prime Minister urges public universities to find independent forms of funding

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak stressed the importance of public universities in Malaysia to help the government find independent financial resources and not depend on the government's annual allocation.

Najib said the government had allocated a substantial budget to education, especially in accommodating tuition fees.

"That is why we prevent the university fees from increasing until now. Our goal is to reach 2.5 million access to higher education by 2025 from the current 1.4 million.

We want to achieve this but there is no mention where we will get the financial resources from," he said.

Najib urged relevant parties, including the chairman and vice-chancellor of the public universities to plan the best ways to find funding.

"Use your intellectual wisdom to assist the Finance Minister," he said to loud applause from the audience comprising of university top management, lecturers and students.