ESTABLISHMENT OF UNIVERSITY MUST HAVE STRONG BASIS

NILAI (Malaysia), Nov 13 (Bernama) -- The approval for establishing a
university is not based on the wish or need of a political party but must have
a strong basis as well as fulfil the country's current needs.


Higher Education Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the
government would not establish a university just because a political party
demanded or wished for it.

"There must be a good basis for the setting up of a university, and we will
decide. There are certain conditions that must be met," he said after launching
the new logo for the INTI University College at its campus, here,
Wednesday.

Nilai is a town located in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.

Also present was INTI Group deputy chief executive officer and
Laureate
Malaysia CEO, Graham Doxey.

Khaled was commenting on Gerakan Youth's request for the setting up of a
People's University (Universiti Rakyat) with free education for excellent
students and with no racial quota imposed for entry.

On Tuesday, Kedah Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang was quoted as saying
that on Oct 6 they had submitted a memorandum to the Higher Education Ministry,
proposing the establishment of what it called Universiti Rakyat, but had
received no response from the ministry.

Following this, Kedah Gerakan Youth launched a website
www.petitiononline.com to get feedback from the public on its proposal.

Khaled said his ministry was still studying the proposal, especially the
objective of providing free education at the university.

The Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Malaysian People's Movement Party or
Gerakan) is a political party in Malaysia. The party was founded on March 24,
1968, and as of 2008, it is part of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.


-- BERNAMA