SEREMBAN, Oct 6 — The Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) has met with the Oman’s Cultural Attache following the country’s move prohibiting its students from pursuing studies at four local universities including USIM.
USIM vice chancellor, Prof Datuk Dr Musa Ahmad expressed regret over issues arising and the USIM acknowledged the ban issued by the Omani Higher Education Ministry affected the reputation and image of the university as well as sparked various speculations and negative interpretations by various parties.
“This ban against USIM is not related to the quality of our academic programmes and it clearly indicated that our academic programmes are of a high quality and in line with the rigorous assessment that the university needs to go through to obtain accreditation (recognition) by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) for each programme.
“The ban was made due to administrative issues at USIM level including visa application, academic management and financial process.
“In a review made, USIM admits there are matters raised due to the weaknesses of the internal administration of the university while some specific problems are still in the process of settlement as it is closely linked to current policies of the university and outside agencies and this requires a bit of time,” he said in a statement here today.
Musa also announced that a task force, comprising personnel from both Oman’s Cultural Attache and USIM, would be formed to address the issues between the two parties promptly.
“We will also seek further clarification from Oman’s Higher Education Ministry on a clearer interpretation of the withdrawal of recognition on the university, and will provide an official response to the Oman’s Cultural Attache towards any issues that were raised by that ministry,” he said.
He added that at the end of the meeting, the Oman’s Cultural Attache office expressed its commitment to help the university to regain the recognition without going through the re-registration procedures to the Oman’s Higher Education Ministry. — Bernama
