LOCAL VARSITY BANS TRAVEL ABROAD IN VIEW OF H1N1

SHAH ALAM (Malaysia), June 24 (Bernama) -- Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) (Mara University of Technology), has imposed a temporary prohibition on travel abroad by its staff and students in view of the Influenza A(H1N1) pandemic.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Ibrahim Abu Shah said Wednesday approval for
travel abroad would only be given on a case-by-case basis.

Already, there have been complaints over the ruling as many academic staff
had made preparations to go abroad, he told a news conference after the opening
of the two-day International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering
(ICAME) 2009 organised by the university's Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,
here.

Dr Ibrahim said he had to be firm in the matter to prevent closure of the
university should any of the more than 100,000 students be infected by the
disease.

He also said that UiTM had set up an H1N1 action committee in accordance
with a directive of the Ministry of Higher Education to all institutions of
higher learning.

ICAME 2009 has drawn participation from academic staff of universities and
representatives of the industrial sector in 18 countries, including Germany,
Japan, the United States, India, Iran, Pakistan, South Korea, the United
Kingdom, Oman, France and Finland.

UiTM is a Malaysian Public University situated at Shah Alam, the capital
city of southern state Selangor in Peninsular Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA