University admission

Interesting to read in the papers these few days about the results of university admissions for 2004. Jeff Ooi notes in Screenshots - "We talk of university admission by meritocracy, but the bureaucracy and the media approach it by race!" Analysis by the media on the places offered were done on the basis of race, which will continue to happen, I suppose, given that our newspapers are largely "race-based" (at least, thats my mindset).

As usual with every year, people have grievances. I symphathise with those who couldn't get a course of their choice, not just the top scorers who mostly applied for medicine. Others could not get places in some in-demand business courses etc..

FYI, taken from NST - "The merit system to determine entry to public universities was introduced in 2002, and places students on a single list instead of separating them according to race. Their admission is based on academic achievement."

Disregarding the breakdown of top scorers by race, those who achieved a CGPA of 4.0 (1,774 total)
STPM - 527 (out of 56,500 students who took the exam in 2003)
Matriculation - 1,247 (out of 20,026 students, as above)

By doing some simple calculations based on the above figures (taken from TheStar 29 May p. 4):
0.933% of those who took the STPM achieved the maximum CGPA of 4.0. For matriculation, 6.23% out of the total.

Which leads to a very relevant question raised by Leanne Goh in TheStar (29 May), which is raised by many, but addressed by none:
"Although enrolment in Form Six is higher than in matriculation, the number of students with CGPA 4.0 outstips those doing STPM. This again raises the question of the marking scheme for the two systems. How equitably is the one-and-a-half year A-Levels equivalent pitched against the one-year internally examined matriculation?"

Meritocracy? When there are two vastly different grading systems for students vying for highly competitive places in our local universities, it is difficult for the "rakyat" to have faith..

I am in a private university now, though not doing the course of my choice. At times, it is indeed my wish that Msia's education system follows that of the Australian system. "Brain drain" will continue to happen while the bright realise that however well they do, even by getting 5As in STPM, they might not get the course of their choice..

Btw, sometimes I get *bengang* when I read about racial stereotypes, ie Chinese are all rich towkays etc. Just want to state that so many people are only just surviving in Msia, contrary to common perceptions, not all chinese are rich. When people talk about Malaysia, the topic seems to revolve around KL/Penang/JB/Ipoh..there is more to Malaysia ie the beauty of the land, but how many actually bother to find out? Most couldn't care less..