'Varsity students are adults'

KUALA LUMPUR: Stop treating university students as if they were still in school.

Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, who said this, added that it was important for these students to be treated as adults since there was a stark contrast between university and secondary school.

"The first difference is their age. According to law, 18 is the age of maturity. So if the person commits a crime, he or she can be charged. And some students are already 21 and eligible to vote.

"So, I urge for them to be acknowledged as adults and not treated like schoolchildren," he said at the Kolej Teknologi Yayasan Pendidikan Cheras-iTWEB fifth convocation ceremony yesterday.

Saifuddin said university students could think and decide on their own as they were groomed to become intellectuals.

"I hope the university's student affairs department can understand the amendments made to the Universities and University Colleges Act.

"We are still receiving complaints that students are not allowed to do things permitted by the act just because the universities are worried. This is an old way of thinking."