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Free Malaysia Today
7 days ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Don't internationalise public varsities at cost of local students, says Wee
MCA president Wee Ka Siong told the Dewan Rakyat this week that more students from China are gaining admission into public universities than Malaysians because they can afford it. PETALING JAYA : The 'internationalisation' of public universities must never come at the cost of equal access for local students, MCA president Wee Ka Siong said. This comes after DAP MP Howard Lee urged Wee to apologise for claiming that an influx of students from China was limiting opportunities for local students to enter Malaysian public universities. Lee had accused the Ayer Hitam MP of trying to portray himself as a hero for the Malaysian Chinese community. Responding to Lee's remarks, Wee said the core of the issue was not race, but 'access, equity, fairness and accountability'. 'I have openly expressed my support for internationalisation. It is vital for Malaysia's higher education sector to be globally competitive. 'However, internationalisation must be done with clear policy direction and a principled framework that distinguishes between postgraduate-level international recruitment versus first-degree enrolments. 'Without such clarity, we risk sending mixed signals to our citizens and the international community,' he said. Wee had claimed in the Dewan Rakyat earlier that more students from China were gaining admission into public universities than Malaysians because the Chinese could afford it. He told Lee it was not fair that tax-paying Malaysians whose children aspire to enter public universities now face dwindling opportunities while universities 'expand revenue-generating international intakes through non-transparent mechanisms'. MCA had also recently called for a suspension of Universiti Malaya's MBBS intake for the 2025/2026 session until the higher education ministry reviews its admissions mechanism. A position paper launched by Wee said the apparent selectiveness in UM's student admissions raised questions about meritocracy in the process. The party said the availability of the two parallel channels reinforced inequality as lower-income students could only apply through UPU, while those with funds could afford Saluran Terbuka Universiti Malaya's (Satu) higher open channel fees. 'Is it fair that universities commercialise the open channel intake to fellow Malaysians with extremely high tuition fees – RM400,000 to RM500,000 versus RM15,000 to RM200,000 for a five-year MBBS course? 'When we raise these questions, the right response is not to deny, deflect or demonise, but to reform,' said Wee. Yesterday, higher education minister Zambry Abdul Kadir denied allegations that an influx of students from China was limiting opportunities for local students to enter public universities. He said the government has never sacrificed local student quotas to make room for international students for the sake of greater profits.
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
EEOC: Workers with vision impairments couldn't access education company's training
This story was originally published on HR Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily HR Dive newsletter. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged in a June 27 lawsuit that Pearson Education, Inc., failed to provide equal access to training for employees with visual impairments. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, said the educational publishing and services company violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it used third-party vendors for training, payroll, benefits, performance and leave information that weren't fully accessible to blind or visually impaired employees and couldn't accommodate screen-reading software. As a result, employees with visual impairments used their personal time to complete required training by asking a sighted person or manager to help them, EEOC said. Employees also said they disclosed sensitive information to third parties, lost unpaid leave time and incurred unexpected out-of-pocket expenses from insurance elections due to the lack of access. 'For example, during their employee onboarding process in 2018, Aggrieved Individual No. 1 could not independently elect their health insurance benefits, assign beneficiaries, or complete their IRS W-4 tax form through ADP, and had to receive assistance from Human Resources. Sometime in March 2019, Aggrieved Individual No. 1 discovered that the W-4 form had automatically elected zero tax withholding, which resulted in a $10,000 tax bill,' the lawsuit alleged. The same worker — a senior quality assurance engineer for blindness technologies who was responsible for evaluating Pearson's assessment and courseware products to ensure they were accessible by people with visual impairments — allegedly lost 44 hours of unused paid leave time 'because they did not receive updates on their leave balance from management.' The lawsuit seeks equal access and reasonable accommodations, such as technological fixes and third-party vendors with accessible portals, as well as damages. The ADA is intended to protect employees and applicants with disabilities from discrimination and, as part of that, requires reasonable accommodations; furthermore employers should train managers on proper implementation, experts previously told HR Dive. Reasonable accommodations, for instance, can include making facilities accessible, restructuring jobs and providing policy exemptions. When it comes to training, there are numerous accommodations employers can consider, according to the Job Accommodation Network, a service of the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy. Training accommodations could include alternative formats, assistive technology, sign language interpreters, real-time captions, extended time, reduced distractions, verbal explanations and job coaches who can provide additional guidance. Recommended Reading Noncompliant workers are a $1.6M liability, study shows
BBC News
29-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Wubben-Moy's "full-circle moment" of pride on school sport
Lotte Wubben-Moy embraces the power of her voice. The England defender has long used her platform to advocate for positive change. Some of her biggest wins have come away from the pitch."This role, as a Lioness, as an Arsenal football player, comes with a responsibility and I'm willing to take that responsibility and bring people on board with me," she said."There's so much power and unity within a group of women, and when we do it all together, I think there's no stopping us."Wubben-Moy was speaking to BBC Sport after the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer visited the squad ahead of the defence of their European title in Switzerland and announced new measures to improve equal access to school a cause close to Wubben-Moy's after winning Euro 2022, she spearheaded an ultimately successful campaign in which the Lionesses' squad wrote an open letter to the then government demanding equal access to school football for governments have now turned her words into Wubben-Moy discussed the issue with Sir Keir she reflected on a "full circle moment"."It's not just about building or laying the foundations for future Lionesses to come through. It's about looking at sport and the power of football as a way to build positive physical or mental well-being" she said."The amount of lessons that I learned as a young girl having to communicate, raising my self-esteem - all soft skills that you don't pick up necessarily in the class from doing maths or English, you actually pick up feeling confident in your body."The government announced a new school sport partnership between schools, local clubs and governing bodies which they said would ensure that "all young people have equal access to high-quality sport and extracurricular activity."Girls will be given the same opportunity as boys to play sport at school, as well as equal access to those with special needs and disabilities, the government said: "The policy that's being implemented will ensure that every girl and boy can go to school and move - minimum two hours - play football, play whatever sport they want.""Equality is important and that allows young girls, young boys to live their lives starting off as confident young people."A Champions League winner with Arsenal, Wubben-Moy will be hoping to make her mark in a major tournament for England this summer. The 26-year-old was an unused member of the Euro 2022 and 2023 World Cup squads. She's seen first-hand how England has evolved."We've got a target on our back now as Euro winners," she said. " And I think that has allowed us to own it, be confident. "I think looking at the task ahead, every team is going to gunning against us. But likewise, are we going to gunning against every other team and I think with that comes a possibility for some of the best football you have ever seen at a Euros."It's some statement, but then Wubben-Moy is used to making those. On and off the pitch. Head here to get involved
