IPT students should be encouraged to be more active in sports - Experts

KUALA LUMPUR: Institutions of Higher Learning (IPTs) should encourage students to be more active in sports, in line with the government's aspirations of turning IPTs into catalysts for a sporting culture in the country, say several experts in the field.

Senior Principal Assistant Secretary of the Sports Section in the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), Dr Pekan Ramli said the role of universities in encouraging students to be active in sports and to provide athletes with seats in universities were already contained in the National Sports Policy 2009.

"Both roles are to ensure that athletes in universities can achieve their potential," he said during the National Sports Vision 2030 engagement session held online yesterday.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Universities Sports Council (MASUM) chairman Dr Nurulfajar Abd Manap viewed the mission of developing athletes of regional standards at universities and balancing the demands of studies and sports as the main challenge faced by those currently involved in sports in the country.

Nurulfajar, who is also Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) deputy vice-chancellor (student affairs), said students between 18 and 25 were the most suited to be exposed to a sporting culture, and that a sports-friendly university ecosystem was capable of producing graduates with a good balance between sports and academics.

He said the sports development policy introduced in 2010 had provided room for universities to build a country that was capable of producing sports talents of quality.

National swimmer, Phee Jinq En, shared her studying and training experience at Purdue University, Indiana, the United States that allowed her to study and train at the same time under the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

According to Phee, throughout her time in the US, as a student-athlete, she was able to study and train at the same place, and had strong support from her lecturers and coaches.

"See, that's the difference between NCAA and athletes in Malaysia currently studying in a university. Most of my friends are studying in a university in Malaysia, but not training there. They study there and train somewhere else, so to commute between two places is a waste of time.

"In NCAA, they produce a lot of Olympians, Olympic gold medalists, and NCAA is a very credible association, a lot of other foreigners go to the US to study and train at the same time," she added.

-- BERNAMA