The minister told the Dewan Rakyat that the study was being conducted by the higher education department with the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA). It started on Nov 15 last year and is at the finishing stage.

“On the effects of online lessons on students’ emotions, preliminary findings show that 78.4% of students do not feel stressed by online lessons.

“These findings will be used by the ministry for a White Paper on the future of online learning in higher education,” she said, adding that she expects the document to be published in November.

She did not mention how many students were surveyed in the study or the demographics.

Noraini said the study was aimed at identifying the main factors affecting the effectiveness and preparedness for online lessons, with the survey involving students, teachers, university staff and its top management.

She also said the study found that 92.8% of higher education institutions had a learning management system to cope with online lessons, with 62% developing their own.

Hatta Ramli (PH-Lumut) asked if the government would review the education system for universities to make it more online-oriented, judging by the feedback the ministry received through the study.

He said that doing so would help universities and students cut costs while allowing more individuals to be enrolled for courses.

Noraini acknowledged that online learning would give students greater flexibility in enrolling for programmes, which would increase the intake of students.

She also said the ministry had announced a 20% decrease in fees for all public universities, although a more holistic study has to be done to review the overall fee structure based on the positive feedback on online learning.