I studied at a Chinese independent school. My Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) is not recognised in Malaysia so in order to get a degree, I have to go overseas.

Most of the Chinese school students are facing the same problem, i.e. insufficient funds. The cost of supporting a student in the UK for one year is RM60,000 to RM70,000 per annum.

Recently I had attended a Malaysian Sports Carnival in Nottingham. There were about 200 Malaysian students participating in the games. It struck me that if 200 Malaysians are spending RM60,000 in UK a year, it would amount to RM12 million ringgit! And this is just a small portion of the total number of Malaysians who are studying in the UK. And that's not counting those in the US, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, etc.

There is no question as to the quality of the UEC. Hundreds of universities from the US to Australia have accepted UEC as a prerequisite entry qualification. A lot of the Chinese school students are doing relatively well in their respective fields. So why can't the local universities accept UEC as one of the qualifications equivalent to STPM or the A-Levels?

Millions of ringgit are spent overseas just for education. If the local universities were to give recognition to the UEC, I think most of the Chinese school students will choose to stay, and the country will save a lot of money.