OMAN BLACKLISTS 4 UNIVERSITIES

Ministry to investigate issue to ensure there is no miscommunication

HIGHER Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said an investigation will be carried out to ensure that there is no miscommunication in Oman’s decision to ban four Malaysian universities.

He said for the time being, he viewed positively the Times of

Oman report that Omani students were not allowed to enrol in the universities.

“If there is a mistake, we will improve on it.

“In Malaysia, quality of education is important.

“This is not just to attract international students to our shores.

“Quality education is also for the good of the people. So, we don’t need to compromise on the quality of education in the country.”

He said in Malaysia, there were monitoring bodies like MyRA for research universities, and Setara and MyQUEST for colleges.

“Through this stringent monitoring, we know the level of quality that we have in our country. We have our own yardstick to measure the quality of higher education institutes,” said Idris.

He was referring to news on the decision of the Committee for the Recognition of Non-Omani Higher Education Institutions and the Equivalence of Educational Qualifications of the country’s Higher Education Ministry to stop dealing with several Malaysian universities.

The universities are Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (Usim), SEGi University, Limkokwing University of Creative Technology and Binary University of Management and Entrepreneurship.

There are 378 Omani students in the four universities.

The Times of Oman, in its recent report, stated that Omani students were not allowed to enrol in the institutions following the decision.

Oman’s cultural attache to Malaysia, Yahya Salam Al Mundhari, had said the reasons for the withdrawal of recognition were due to alleged academic and administrative abuses.

“Most of these reasons are academic and administrative, including complaints against these universities by some of the Omani students studying there (in Malaysia).

“These universities are not complying with some of the laws of the country of scholarship, such as student registration, allowing them to study on tourist visas, and most of these universities are unresponsive and not cooperating with the Cultural Mission in solving the challenges faced by Omani students,” he was quoted as saying.

Usim Deputy Vice-Chancellor (academic and international) Professor Datuk Dr Zulkiple Abdul Ghani said the university had yet to receive any information on the ban from Oman’s Higher Education Ministry or its embassy.

“The issue was only made aware to us through news reports from Times of Oman. However, an immediate meeting will be organised by Usim with the Oman embassy to discuss this issue.

“Any problems or issues related to international students, whether it involves student welfare, finance or academics, have always been given the utmost attention by USIM as we believe they (international students) are our stakeholders,” he said.

Zulkiple added that the university had enjoyed a good relationship with the Omani embassy and was ready to improve on shortcomings.

A SEGi University spokesman said it would obtain further details about the ban.

“We view the matter seriously as SEGi is out to achieve the highest education standards.

“As the decision undertaken by the Cultural Mission involves policy and bureaucratic processes, SEGi University will obtain further details about the ban from relevant agencies to find a solution and resolve the issue immediately,” the spokesman said yesterday. Additional reporting by Beatrice Nita Jay