According to a report on Bernama, the government will begin to halt the setting up of universities, university colleges, and colleges in Malaysia for the next two years. This was a statement by Higher Education Minister, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

"In line with development in the dynamic education sector today, the ministry must be more open in reviewing regulations and guidelines to become more comprehensive,” he said.

"This is in order to support the implementation of the policy to become more competitive and be on par with developed nations."

Datuk Khaled also said that a review initiative on the regulations and guidelines under the Private Institutions of Higher Learning (IPTS) Act 1996 will be implemented with the setting up of a committee. The committee will be chaired by the vice-chancellor of Taylor University, and will begin in February this year. The review initiative is expected to be completed before the end of 2013.

"The ministry thinks the number of higher institutions of learning (IPT) is enough to meet demand. Although applications for IPT are still high, there are signs indicating an excess of graduates, as compared to market demand. "As such, the number of IPTS currently being set up must be controlled to focus on boosting quality and sustainability of the IPT," he added.

Datuk Khaled also told Bernama that the Ministry of Education will introduce a sustainability review on 10 IPTS every year, based on complaints from the public on the services and performances of the IPTS, or at random. This will be done to identify any IPTS which had risks, so that it can be rectified.

As of 30 November 2012, there are 37 private universities, 20 private university colleges, seven foreign university branch campuses and 414 private colleges in Malaysia.

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