Education Minister Maszlee Malik could not reveal if increasing the Malaysian Matriculation programme intake would result in stiffer competition for STPM holders to be accepted into public universities.

Sidestepping the question when asked today, he pointed to how the programme was not the only pathway to higher education.

Maszlee said the decision to increase the intake of matriculation students was made by the cabinet.

Last week, the cabinet decided to raise this year’s intake by 60 percent to 40,000 spots while maintaining the 90:10 racial quota for bumiputera and non-bumiputera students respectively.