KUALA LUMPUR: Varsity students in certain courses can now choose to attend classes on campus only for their first and final years under a hybrid learning system starting this new academic year.
Designed to attract interest and help parents save on tuition fees and other costs, the move will also see 44 courses in nine public institutions of higher learning cut from four years to three years.
Announcing this yesterday, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin (pic centre) said flexible learning was being offered for 95 degree courses in 19 public universities, which would start with the new 2023/2024 academic session.
Under this system, tertiary students will only attend lectures at the university for the first and final years of their studies.
“In the middle years, students will be given a choice and the flexibility to study from home without having to attend physical classes.
“It will give some advantages, such as reducing the amount of loans and education costs and opening up space for students to work or do other things,” he said.
This would also allow students, said Mohamed Khaled, to organise their activities more flexibly, adding that they would be able to save on their tertiary education costs.
“In the middle years, students will be given a choice and the flexibility to study from home without having to attend physical classes,” he said during the closing of the Jom Masuk U event at Universiti Malaya yesterday.
According to Bernama, Mohamed Khaled said cutting the course duration from four to three years could see a reduction in the amount of loan or tuition fees.
“At the same time, this will give graduates the opportunity to enter the job market a year earlier,” he said.
He added that the move was a continuous effort by the ministry to update and streamline programmes and courses offered by universities.
Later, Mohamed Khaled told reporters that the shortened study period would only involve programmes and courses in public higher education institutions that commence this year.
On the First Student Development Programme initiative, which was introduced last year, Mohamed Khaled said 10,000 B40 students would be fully exempt from tuition fees at all 20 public universities.
“This initiative will have a financial implication of about RM30mil involving all public universities,” he said.
