KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 — The government’s overall allocation for the Higher Education Ministry will increase in 2018, reversing the downward trend over the last three years.
In the Federal Expenditure Estimate for 2018, the Higher Education Ministry is projected to get an overall budget of around RM13.9 billion to cover both operating expenditure and development expenditure.
According to the same set of figures, the ministry was given RM12.13 billion for 2017, RM13.3 billion in 2016 and RM14.81 billion in 2015.
Prior to 2015, the ministry’s spending had been rising steadily from RM12.71 billion in 2012 to RM15.05 billion in 2014.
After the ministry’s allocation for operating expenditure in 2017 fell to a six-year low of around RM9.50 billion, the combined operating expenditure allocation for Malaysia’s 20 public universities similarly declined.
For 2017, the 20 universities’ combined operating expenditure budget was cut from RM7.57 billion in 2017 to RM6.12 billion.
But the allocation for these public universities’ combined operating expenditure is set to increase next year to around RM6.72 billion.
