There are those who say Malaysia needs UEC holders for its economic development, and there are those who say recognition of the certificate would amount to a sabotage of efforts towards national integration.
FMT recently spoke about the issue to Vincent Lau, chairman of the United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong), which was formed about 44 years ago when the government stopped financing Chinese schools and preparing examination papers for them because they would not adopt Malay as the medium of instruction.
“The Chinese community decided to form Dong Zong to develop an education syllabus and examinations for these schools,” Lau said.
“The UEC standards are quite high because we go beyond the benchmarks of local and international schools, and we constantly update the textbooks in line with global developments.”
He said students with UEC could pursue degree courses at about 1,000 international universities and local private universities without having to attend pre-university classes.
Among the institutions that recognise the UEC are the California Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Oxford University, University of Cambridge, University of Toronto and the National University of Singapore.
Lau also said the number of UEC candidates had been increasing over the years by about 1,000 per year. He attributed this to parents’ increasing confidence in the UEC.
He said it was “sad” that the federal government was still refusing to recognise the certificate, thus denying its holders places in public universities and jobs in the public sector.
He said this was why many UEC graduates would go abroad for further studies or to find work and would eventually settle in their host countries.
“They get scholarship offers to study overseas or offers of jobs in foreign countries, and leave their own country.”
However, Sarawak and Selangor recognise the UEC for admission to state-owned learning institutions. Sarawak also recognises the UEC as a qualification for jobs in the state civil service. In Penang, UEC holders can work in state-owned companies.
Lau said Malaysia would lose out for not recognising the UEC as good talents would look for opportunities elsewhere.