Students who applied for entry into public universities for Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) holders or its equivalent can check the status of their applications today.

Director-General of the Department of Higher Education in the Ministry of Higher Education, Datuk Prof Dr Asma Ismail said the results can be checked via the following five websites - http://upu.mohe.gov.my, https://jpt.utm.my, http://jpt.uum.edu.my , https://jpt.unimas.my and http://jpt.ums.edu.my from noon today.

"They can also contact the hotline 03-88706767, helpline at 03-88706777 or general line 03-88706755/6766 as well as through the short-messaging system (SMS) by typing UPU RESULT (identity card number) and sending it to 15888," she said in a statement.

She added beginning Wednesday, the public universities would be issuing official letters of offer to the successful candidates, who will be required to confirm acceptance within 10 days, which is on or before Aug 22.

Asma said that in the case of unsuccessful candidates, appeals can be made through the e-Rayuan application which can be accessed through the enrolment website at http://upu.mohe.gov.my also from noon tomorrow.

"The outcome of the appeal is subject to vacancies in the programmes after the registration of the new students. The decision is final," she said.

She added that candidates who do not receive a reply from the universities concerned by September should consider their appeals to have failed.

Asma said a total of 49,841 STPM, matriculation, foundation (first degree)candidates were successful in getting offers into courses in 20 public universities throughout the country for the 2015/2016 academic session.

They are among the 63,942 students who applied.

"Of the successful applicants, 23,883 (59.06 per cent) are from the Science Stream and 16,555 (40.94 per cent) from the Arts stream.

"A total of 12,391 (30.64 per cent) of the successful applicants are males while 28,047 (69.36 per cent) are females," she said.