Party president Wee Ka Siong today launched a position paper by MCA on the matter, in which the party said the apparent selectiveness in UM’s student admissions raised questions about meritocracy in the process.
In the paper, MCA said the availability of two parallel channels – Satu and the more competitive Unit Pusat Universiti (UPU) system – reinforced inequality, as lower-income students could only apply via UPU, while those with more funds could afford Satu’s higher fees.
Introduced in 2018, Satu was initially positioned as a supplementary admissions route aimed at increasing intake capacity and institutional financial sustainability.
According to UM’s 2021 annual report, Satu is a means to increase the university’s revenue and financial sustainability, offering its students “priority access” with the goal of “expanding the inclusivity of the UM student population by attracting potential undergraduates from diverse socio-economic backgrounds”.
Tuition fees under Satu range from RM52,800 for a bachelor of Malay studies to RM500,000 for the bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery (MBBS) programme, according to the fee schedule for 2025/2026.
MCA said the system had effectively become a dual-track one, where one track is subsidised and opaque, and the other is “pay-to-enter and financially exclusive”.
The party also highlighted the lack of transparency in the selection criteria and intake quota between the UPU and Satu admission pathways.
“While both claim to uphold academic standards, the absence of detailed, publicly disclosed intake data by qualification type (STPM, matriculation, foundation and diploma) fuels suspicion of systemic bias,” it said in the paper.
MCA said this matter was further compounded by UPU’s 90:10 merit formula, which assigns 10% of admission weight to co-curricular achievements.
“While matriculation students benefit from structured, centrally assessed programmes; STPM students, particularly from smaller schools, often lack access to formalised participation and proper documentation of their co-curricular achievements.
“This makes it harder for even high-performing STPM candidates to accumulate sufficient merit points and secure entry into competitive courses such as MBBS,” it said.
MCA said the exorbitant increase by 67%, from RM299,200 to RM500,000 for MBBS under the Satu system had placed Malaysia’s top public medical programme beyond the financial reach of most B40 and M40 families.
“This effectively closes off a vital path to professional education for thousands of academically qualified students,” read the paper.
MCA called for this fee increase to be put on hold, and for an independent audit of the Satu structure to be conducted to justify the costs in comparison with other equivalent universities.