Public universities now known as UA, not IPTA

Starting today, Malaysian public universities will now be known as Universiti Awam or UA while the term Institut Pengajian Tinggi Awam (IPTA) will be used to refer to community and polytechnic colleges.

The name change hopes to help uplift the status of public universities. It will affect 20 public universities and more than 60 community and polytechnic colleges.

“After getting the consent of the Education Ministry recently, all public universities in the country will be known as UA while the term IPTA will be used to refer to community and polytechnic colleges,” said NCR chairman Datuk Prof Dr Kamarudin Hussin after chairing the Vice-Chancellors and Rectors Committee (JNCR) meeting at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia here yesterday.