The repeal of the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 (AUKU) could give Malaysian university students greater freedom to develop their ideas, take part in decision-making and compete at the forefront of academic and professional fields, says Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Ahmad Zahid, who described himself as a former student activist, said he hoped the removal of AUKU would encourage more students to take part in decision-making and contribute new ideas.
He said student activism should not necessarily be limited to street demonstrations, public speaking corners or frequent rallies.
“As a former student activist, that is my hope. It does not need to, and does not necessarily have to, be on the streets, at public speaking corners or through marches with different-coloured shirts every week,” he said.
“I am very confident that student leaders and students as a whole will develop a more mature mindset without AUKU, which has restricted students’ thinking and minds all this while.”
He was speaking at the 2026 Malay Education Convention here on Tuesday.
Ahmad Zahid said the repeal should also give universities greater room to operate, but this increased freedom must come with accountability, measured through improvements in the quality of learning, graduate mobility and research impact.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had announced on August 15 that the government would repeal AUKU to provide wider freedom and democratic space for student movements in Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Zahid, who is also Rural and Regional Development Minister and Umno president, proposed the creation of a Malay Education Mobility Index to track the educational journey of Malaysians, from socioeconomic background and learning outcomes to study pathways, employment, skills matching and income growth.
He said future Malay education policies must be driven by data, outcomes and evidence rather than simply focusing on the number of programmes, allocations or participants.
“Our measurement must move from schooling to learning, and from learning to mobility — not merely how long someone remains in the system, but what they have mastered, where their knowledge takes them and how far education improves their social mobility,” he said.
Ahmad Zahid called on the Umno Education and Research Secretariat, together with academic institutions, to develop an initial framework for the proposed index for further consideration at the policy level.
He also tasked Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir, who chairs the Malay Education Convention, with completing the proposal with the assistance of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Pro-Chancellor Tan Sri Idris Jusoh.
Ahmad Zahid identified three major challenges facing education today: gaps in knowledge and capabilities, ownership of knowledge, and ensuring education is translated into economic value.
He said 35.2% of workers with tertiary education remained in jobs that did not match their skill levels in the second quarter of this year.
To address these challenges, he proposed five key missions, including positioning UiTM as a university focused on Bumiputera empowerment, developing Malay-language digital knowledge infrastructure, introducing performance-based university autonomy and building a Bumiputera Knowledge Endowment Fund with a target of at least RM1 billion by 2030.
