He said foreign students who study medicine, dentistry and pharmacy at public universities would be charged the full fees of between RM400,000 and RM500,000.

“Local students pursuing the same courses at these universities, however, enjoy subsidised fees of between RM15,000 and RM30,000,” he said.

“With the amount of fees imposed on the foreign students, the universities will have the additional income to implement their programmes,” he said in response to Prime Minister Najib Razak’s announcement, here today.

Najib during his visit to India announced that the government has agreed to offer 5% placements to foreign students to study medicine, dentistry and pharmacy at public universities beginning with this year’s intake.

Earlier, Idris witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Higher Education Ministry Polytechnic Education Department, represented by its secretary-general Noorul Ainur Mohd Nur and Petroleum Nasional Bhd (Petronas) represented by its Group Human Resources senior vice-president Raiha Azni Abdul Rahman.

The MoU involved educational cooperation to include professional training to polytechnic institutions’ teaching staff and use of equipment during the learning and teaching process for the Diploma in Petrochemical Engineering programme.

The programme is being conducted at Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Polytechnic (PSMZA) in Terengganu and Kuching Polytechnic in Sarawak.