BY FARIK ZOLKEPLI

JOHOR BARU, MALAYSIA: The Higher Education Ministry will be more careful in approving application by research universities to choose their own undergraduates following the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) blunder.

Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said his ministry would scrutinise any such application by research universities such as Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Malaya.

"We were looking into the possibility of letting other research universities practise the autonomy system by directly choosing their students after testing it with apex-status USM this year.

"However, after the mistake at USM, we will be more careful when considering such an option," he told reporters after launching the Gerak Kemas community programme at Taman Aman Puri here on Sunday.

Last week, an online blunder by USM in its first direct intake of undergraduates led to some 200 irate parents and applicants to cause a ruckus at its campus in Penang. The error resulted in 4,574 students being wrongly informed that they had obtained places at the university.

The university had mistakenly uploaded the names of 8,173 applicants, who met the minimum criteria for intake, stating they were successful in their applications although the list should only contain the names of 3,599 eligible students.

Mohamed Khaled said the mistake at USM should not have happened as many parents and students had their emotions devastated by the mistake, adding that a report on the matter was expected next week.

"We will decide on the proper action to be taken once the report is completed. We aim to get to the bottom of this and identify the ones responsible," he said.

However, he declined to comment if USM's apex status could be withdrawn due to the blunder.

Mohamed Khaled, who is Pasir Gudang MP, also called on Johor to change the status of Pasir Gudang from a local council to a district within five years so that the residents did not have to travel all the way to Johor Baru to settle their matters with government departments.