By RICHARD LIM

PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA: Private universities and university colleges have been asked to enrol only qualified foreign students to avoid being branded as "diploma or degree mills."

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said Malaysia should not be made a dumping ground for students who could not get placement elsewhere and institutions of higher learning (IPTs) should upgrade their academic management system.

From next year, they will be graded in the Rating System for Malaysian Higher Education Institutions (Setara) to benchmark their performance.

"Their participation in Setara is voluntary now but from next year, there is no excuse for them not to be evaluated," he told a press conference after meeting the CEOs of local private higher education institutions at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre Tuesday.

According to Khaled, the ministry emphasises quality in the programmes offered by private institutions and under-qualified foreign students should not be enrolled.

The ministry has set a minimum CGPA of 2.0 for all foreign students and private institutions were advised to abide by the benchmark.

"They should turn away unqualified foreign students. This is to protect the good name, image and reputation of the IPTs. Money does not guarantee admission into the IPTs," he said.

Registrar-General Prof Datuk Radin Umar Radin Sohadi said foreign students should be in the country to study and not to seek employment.

He added that surprise checks would be conducted on private institutions of higher learning to monitor the students.

It is learnt that a Nigerian Education Minister had accused Malaysia of offering low quality degrees at the recent 17th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Kuala Lumpur.