60% of Malaysian accountants from Ktar?

KUALA LUMPUR: Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman (Ktar) has produced 60% of accountants from Malaysia, said MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.

The college, he added, was also a recipient of the Platinum Status Award by the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants).

One of the criteria to qualify for the prestigious award is that students must consistently achieve pass rates that exceed the rest of the world in the ACCA examination.

While Ktar would be elevated to a unversity college next year, Dr Chua gave his assurance that its School of Business Studies would continue to flourish.

Nevertheless, he said there would be some changes like consolidating its 130 programmes, continuing only selected diploma programmes and introducing university programmes.

Dr Chua said deputy president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has been given a month to come up with recommendations on the changes.

The changes would also make sure that Ktar and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) would complement each other and develop together, instead of competing against each other, he said in an interview at his office here.

Dr Chua noted that the two institutions were set up and run by MCA to provide quality and affordable education to Malaysians and contribute to the country's development.

Both had produced some 200,000 graduates who found jobs within six months upon graduation, he added.

Dr Chua said the college was proposed by then MCA president Tun Tan Siew Sin at the party's annual general assembly in July 1968.

Ktar, which took in its first batch of 320 students in February 1969, now has a total enrolment of 25,000 at its main campus here and branch campuses in Penang, Perak, Johor, Pahang and Sabah.

It had undergone rapid expansion at its main campus and set up branch campuses under then MCA president Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik in the 1990s, he added.

Dr Chua said the Government's ringgit-to-ringgit annual allocation for Ktar's development and administration costs since 1972 would continue, adding that RM56mil had been allocated for the purpose next year.

The allocation was needed to keep its fees affordable, he said, adding that the fees were between RM9,000 and RM10,000.

Fees at other established private colleges ranged from RM20,000 to RM40,000.

Plans were afoot to expand the main campus here to include a faculty building, students' centre and hall and vocational training building.

He said the development on Ktar's 21ha plot could proceed after the relocation of about 500 squatter families.

Dr Chua said Ktar principal Dr Tan Chik Heok has been given six months, beginning last month, to resolve the squatter issue.

Dr Tan heads a committee of academic staff which is working with Kuala Lumpur City Hall on the relocation, he added.

By FOONG PEK YEE pekyee@thestar.com.my