Ministry of Higher Education: It's Not Us!

As a follow up to my earlier posts here and here with regards to the "sale of confidential student information" by the Star - it has been reported to day that the Ministry of Higher Education "denies UPU link in sale of student list".

There is no proof that private colleges had used confidential data from the Higher Education Ministry's public universities’ admissions unit (UPU) to solicit students.

In response to The Star's front-page story “Student list sold” on Saturday, Higher Education Management Department director-general Prof Datuk Dr Hassan Said said “a thorough investigation” showed that UPU was not involved in selling confidential student data to private colleges.

The denial came pretty quick after the Minister announced the investigations last weekend. I'm curious how did Prof Datuk Dr Hassan Said conducted the investigation - did he ask his staff: "Will the person who sold the confidential list, please raise their hands?" The officials of the private colleges have in the earlier reports specifically stated that the information was obtained or purchased from an official at the ministry. So, were these officials mistaken? Have they been queried?

The Director General of UPU rationalised that these officials must have claimed that the information was obtained from UPU "because it added “value” to their information". He was also quick to deflect the responsibility to some "other" ministry claiming that:

“There are other ways in which private colleges can get this information. I do not want to mention them as it involves other agencies which I do not want to drag into this.”

Believable? The Anti-Corruption Agency must step into this case, as it's making a mockery out of our university entrance mechanism. The responsible parties, whether from the Ministry of Higher Education, or "some other agencies" must be punished accordingly.