RM1.85 billion collected via public universities endowment funds

A TOTAL RM1.85 billion was collected through the endowment funds of the 20 local public universities as of June this year, the Dewan Rakyat was told yesterday.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said Universiti Malaya recorded the highest collection of RM1.6 billion followed by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia ( UKM), RM71 million.

“Every public university has an endowment fund with contributions obtained from individuals and companies and it is one of the important funding sources for the sustainability of the university.

“In addition, until to date, 13 public universities have set up their respective endowment centres with the approval of the State Islamic Religious Councils to make endowment collections, whereby RM23.02 million had been collected by the centres,” he said.

Idris was replying to a question from Datin Mastura Mohd Yazid ( BN- Kuala Kangsar) who wanted to know the number of universities which had set up endowment funds for the future rather than continue to be funded by the government.

He said seven more public universities were in the process of obtaining approval from the state Islamic religious councils to set up their respective endowment centres.

He said the ministry, with the co- operation of numerous agencies, had come up with a guideline, namely, ‘UniTP Purple Book - Enhancing University Income Generation, Endownment and Waqf’ to guide and help public universities to generate their own income encompassing numerous methods such as business activities, research grants and endowments.

“It is also a ministry effort in ensuring that the provision of the best higher education to society can be continued into the future,” he said. — Bernama