KUALA LUMPUR — The Higher Education Ministry (MoHE) has stressed that students living in rented accommodation off campus should inform their universities of their place of residence to facilitate monitoring.

Its minister, Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir, said monitoring was difficult because some students arranged their own rental accommodation without going through their universities.

“So, that makes it rather difficult for us to monitor them. What we emphasise, however, is that they should always inform us of their whereabouts and where they are staying,” he said during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was responding to a supplementary question from Dr Ahmad Fakhruddin Fakhrurazi (PN-Kuala Kedah) on the ministry’s proposal to work with state governments and property owners to provide student rental accommodation at controlled rates near public higher education institutions (IPTAs), pending the completion of new residential colleges.

Zambry said some public universities and polytechnics worked with their student affairs divisions to manage accommodation in designated areas, while some students opted to rent accommodation independently.

He said the proposal to provide student rental accommodation at controlled rates was also being considered to meet undergraduates’ housing needs, but its implementation would depend on the capacity of the universities concerned and their financial positions.

The proposal had also been raised by student representative councils, with several universities identified as requiring greater attention and priority in terms of student accommodation.

On targeted rental assistance for B40 students who failed to secure places in residential colleges, Zambry said priority was given to this group, along with students with disabilities, athletes and uniformed corps members, for hostel accommodation.