Malaysia's USIM To Discuss With Oman Embassy About Ban

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 (Bernama) -- Malaysian public university, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) will convene an immediate meeting with the Oman Embassy here to discuss in detail the issues that have led the university, along with three private universities in Malaysia, to be banned by the Oman government. USIM deputy vice-chancellor (Academic and International) Prof Dr Zulkiple Abdul Ghani said, however, the university had yet to receive any formal notification about the ban. “At the moment, we don’t have further information and details on the ban reported in the media or any other issues related to USIM that led to the decision (by Oman government),” he said in a statement here Monday. He said as a public university, USIM had always opened its doors to international students, including from Oman, to pursue their tertiary studies at the university. All issues related to international students, either on their welfare, finance and academic, would always be given attention by USIM as they were part of the university’s stakeholders, he said, adding that there were 126 active Omani students pursuing their Masters and Doctorate degrees in USIM. It was reported in The Times of Oman yesterday that the Committee for the Recognition of Non-Omani Higher Education Institutions and the Equivalence of Educational Qualifications had issued a decision to stop dealing with USIM, Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Binary University of Management & Entrepreneurship and SEGI University. The report said the decision followed the complaints received from the students about the four universities, including allegations that the varsities had violated laws pertaining to student registration and had even accepted students using tourism visas. Meanwhile, SEGi University, in a statement said it would seek further details about the ban from relevant agencies in order to find a solution and resolve the issue immediately. “We take and view the matter seriously as SEGi sets out to achieve the highest education standards to serve the future generations,” it said. Spokesman of Binary University of Management & Entrepreneurship, when contacted, said they would issue an official statement on the ban after receiving official notification from the relevant parties. Effort to get comment from Limkokwing University, however, was unsuccessful. -- BERNAMA