BY: Michelle Liew
All 35 campuses of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) are now offering meals for as low as RM3.50 to students as of July 8. This move is in line with the implementation of the Malaysian Family Student Food Basket initiative, which aims to ease the cost of university students’ expenses.
UiTM Vice-Chancellor, Prof Datuk Dr Roziah Mohd Janor said that the university has more than 400 stalls throughout its campus and almost all of them expressed their willingness to provide a seperate menu at RM3.50 per item, while other menu options were still on offer.
“So, we maintain (the price) for other menu items and those who have extra money can purchase them. That is what has been decided and we recommend every stall provides a menu from the Malaysian Family Student Food Basket initiative,” she told the media after the tree planting ceremony for the ‘TREE4FUTURE’ program ‘here today.
Roziah said last Friday, there were still stalls offering food priced at RM6 per dish. She added that the university would continue to monitor the food stalls to ensure that the RM3.50 menu would be offered with 14 nutritious and quality food options.
“When asked by students, they stated that the price (RM6) is not expensive, and I think this is because UiTM’s tuition fees are cheaper compared to other universities,” she said.
On July 4, the Minister of Higher Education, Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad announced that a quality food menu with a ceiling price of RM3.50 per meal will be introduced through the Malaysian Family Student Food Basket initiative.
Prior to this announcement, Roziah said ‘TREE4FUTURE’ was a tree planting initiative which aimed to increase the greenery of the area within the main campus, in line with the mission to achieve a Sustainable Campus (Green Campus) status by 2025.
She said that the initiative was also made possible by the Azerbaijani Embassy, which at the same time aims to promote Susha City as an Azerbaijani cultural centre and celebrate the 270th anniversary of Susha City, which was built in the 18th century (1752-2022).
Also present at the planting ceremony of 15 trees including trees of the Merbau, Delima and Penaga Lilin genus were Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Elnur Mammadov and Azerbaijani Ambassador to Malaysia, Irfan Davudov.
