Higher education ministry to study need to set up IPTA in Miri, says deputy minister

MIRI (May 19): The Ministry of Higher Education (KPT) will carry out a comprehensive study to see if there is a need to set up a public higher education institute (IPTA) in Miri.

Its deputy minister Datuk Mustapha Sakmud said this study will include whether there is a sufficient number of students and the study can be implemented if there is a need as well as market from students here.

“I think we can carry out research to see if there is a market and if there are enough students for us to build a campus here.

“I think (there should be) no problem. But we have to study this thoroughly before we set up (the campus). If there really is a need, then there is no problem for us to support the application made by Miri MP (Chiew Choon Man),” he told reporters after officiating the ‘My Future Education’ exhibition here.

Earlier, Chiew in his address had requested the ministry to consider setting up an IPTA campus for locals here.

According to him, all major cities in Sarawak have IPTA campuses except Miri and the need to set one here is to meet the increasing population of Miri and complement the increased awareness of the importance of higher education among the people.

“In Kuching, we have Unimas and UiTM. In Sibu, there is the Unimas Sibu campus. In Bintulu, we have the UPM Bintulu campus but in Miri, we still don’t have a IPTA campus.

“Therefore, we hope an IPTA can be set up not only in Miri but also other parts of northern Sarawak such as Limbang, Lawas, Baram and Sibuti,” he explained.

He added that establishing an IPTA campus here can also help realise Pakatan Harapan’s manifesto in the last general election, which was to establish an IPTA in northern Sarawak.

Chiew said a few months ago, the Sarawak government had planned a collaboration with a leading university in China, Fudan University, to open an additional campus in the state.

There had also been representatives from Kuching, Sibu and Miri who were calling for university’s campus to be opened in their respective areas and as a representative of the people here, Chiew said he supported Miri Mayor Adam Yii’s call for the university to be opened here.

“This is because Miri indeed has the potential and good conditions to accommodate higher education institutions. The area north of Miri has the potential to become a higher education city,” he pointed out.

He said if there there is a IPTA campus along with the Fudan University campus in Miri, it will greatly benefit all the people in the northern Sarawak.

To realise this agenda, Chiew requested the full support of KPT to choose Miri as an option to open an additional IPTA campus.

“I would also like to request support from KPT, for the Fudan University in China to set up a campus in Miri,” he added.