ALOR SETAR: The quota system at public universities in the country will be retained but students from all races who excel in their studies will get places in institutes of higher learning, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The Prime Minister said the quota system would continue to be implemented to enable Malay and bumiputra students to achieve balance in universities.

"If not, we will see the same disparity that occurred at Universiti Malaya in the 1970s and 1960s, where there were no Malays in the engineering faculty and only 12% in the medical faculty, so there was an effort by the late Ungku (Abdul) Aziz and the ministry at the time... to help the Malays so that they can better compete," he said at the "Program Temu Anwar Kedah" at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) here on Saturday (July 8).

The late Royal Prof Ungku Abdul Aziz Ungku Abdul Hamid was the UM vice-chancellor at the time.

"I agree to retain this quota programme, but we have to find another way to give opportunities to smart non-Malay, non-bumiputra children, whose results are good, so that they are not left out," he said.

Anwar was responding to a question from a student during the programme who asked whether the quota system for university entrance should continue or be replaced by a meritocracy-based system.

About 5,000 students from universities, polytechnics and secondary schools in Kedah and Perlis attended the programme.

The dialogue session with students was moderated by celebrity and actor Fikry Ibrahim.