He said the king saw the merger of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) and Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) as a step towards establishing more universities of international standard in the country.

“The evaluation of the merger’s success would be in its ability to produce highly marketable graduates while being on par with other prestigious universities around the world,” he said in a Facebook post today.

The government agreed in principle on the merger in September, saying the move would improve the functions of the two universities in line with the higher education blueprint. A report on the merger was to be completed in six months.

The move drew criticism from various parties when it was first proposed, with former higher education minister Khaled Nordin saying it was unprofessional and unnecessary.

Maszlee had also accused certain groups of trying to obstruct the proposed merger, saying there were “elements of sabotage”.

UniSZA was established in 2005. It was reputed to be the first university in the country to be modelled after the University of London, UK. It has four campuses, including one in Kuala Lumpur.

UMT began as Universiti Pertanian Malaysia’s Centre for Fisheries and Marine Science before being upgraded as University College of Science and Technology Malaysia (Kustem) in 2001. In 2007, it was rebranded as UMT.