UTS Enrolment To Hit 5,000 By Year-end - Annuar

SIBU, July 24 (Bernama) -- The number of students furthering their studies at Universiti Teknologi Sarawak (UTS) here is expected to reach 5,000 by the end of this year, said State Deputy Minister of Education and Talent Development Datuk Dr Annuar Rapaee.

He said the enrolment at the Sarawak government-owned university now exceeds 4,000, comprising students from across Sarawak and other parts of the country.

“I can assure you that by the end of this year, we might reach 5,000. By next year, definitely 5,000 students, and that is our full capacity,” he told reporters after the UTS Appreciation Dinner 2025 last night.

Dr Annuar said UTS now records the highest enrolment among local universities in Sarawak. “During the recent intake for the foundation programme, there were even students from West Malaysia,” he added.

He said UTS has become the university of choice for students from the central region, surpassing Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus in Kuching and Curtin University Malaysia in Miri in terms of student numbers.

Dr Annuar said that when he was appointed UTS chairman in 2021, the university had around 1,200 students, with enrolment falling during the COVID‑19 pandemic.

To make higher education more accessible to poor families, he and vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Khairuddin Ab Hamid introduced bursaries covering 50 per cent of tuition fees for all students, with an additional 80 per cent bursary reserved for 100 students from the B40 group.

“We were criticised then that UTS, which was built using government funds, was not meant for poor people because its fees were too high. 

“Without fees, you cannot run a university, but doing nothing would make it a burden. Thanks to the bursary scheme, the university has grown from around 1,200 students to more than 4,000 now and is on track to reach 5,000,” he added.

-- BERNAMA