UM Clarifies New Student Intake Through UPU And Conditional Offers

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 (Bernama) -- New student admissions into Universiti Malaya (UM) are conducted through the Unit Pusat Universiti (UPU) screening process as well as conditional direct intakes by the university, says Universiti Malaya Vice-Chancellor Prof Datuk Seri Dr Noor Azuan Abu Osman.

He said the conditional direct offers were issued after the appeal period ended, with candidates ranked using the same system as UPU. The university provided an estimated 20 to 50 seats through this method.

He clarified that the conditional intake was not automatic but required students to apply.

“UM has what we call an open channel… we offer about 30 to 50 students conditional offers, meaning they have already met the requirements. This is a normal practice, and the offer letters are only issued after the appeal period.

“During the appeal period, the 30 to 50 students will be ranked to identify the best candidates. They are ranked based on the same system used by UPU. Ultimately, we will take 30 to 50 students, making the total around 150 or 160,” he said at a special press conference in Putrajaya today.

He was commenting on a complaint by an STPM student who claimed he was not offered a place in UM’s accounting programme despite obtaining a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.00 and a co-curricular score of 9.90, giving him an overall merit score of 99.90 per cent.

Following the complaint, some parties also alleged that the number of places offered by UPU for the programme at UM was inconsistent with the final number of graduates produced.

Commenting further, Noor Azuan said the figure of 85 places for the accounting programme at UM, as stated by Higher Education Department director-general Prof Datuk Dr Azlinda Azman, was accurate.

He explained that there were three categories of applicants, namely those from STPM, matriculation and foundation studies; diploma candidates; and feeder candidates from UM.

“So if we look at it, the 85 places came from UPU, which involved applicants from matriculation, STPM, foundation, and diploma. That’s how it totalled 85. But there were also another 28 places for feeder candidates from UM.

“This is a normal practice where UPU allows UM to select from among foundation students with equivalent merit,” he said.

At the same time, he stressed that the current UPU system remained relevant as it considered all aspects and applied the principle of meritocracy.

-- BERNAMA