By Stephen Ng
WHEN a private university like Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) “runs into problems with accreditation”, something must be terribly wrong somewhere.
Currently, with close to 100 academic programmes being offered at its flagship campus in Cyberjaya, as well as its satellite campuses in London, Cambodia and a number of countries in Africa, surely the problem would not have been overlooked over the past 30 years by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA).
This appears to be a case where anxiety due to a lack of understanding of the process of accreditation has led to yesterday’s press conference (May 3).
At the press conference, Limkokwing students issued a press statement expressing two major concerns: (i) the inability to secure Accreditation for new courses as well as the revocation of Accreditation for various existing courses (ii) visa issues faced by international students.
“The degree in question is the Bachelor’s Degree of Computing Science in Cloud Computing Technology,” the statement claimed. “At the time of enrolment, this degree was not awarded full accreditation and this information was not communicated to the students.”
Explanation
Focus Malaysia received a statement attributed to Prof Datuk Dr Raduan Che Rose, Chairman of Limkokwing University Council, saying that the accreditation process of all its programmes is an “on-going process.”
This is after all how the MQA maintains the quality of Malaysian education so that it continues to be respected around the world. According to MQA website, a programme which has obtained Provisional Accreditation, the private higher education institution (PHEI) can only apply for Full Accreditation when it has reached “the level of maturity.”
Prof Raduan explained in his statement that this is “a natural accreditation process that once they (the programmes) reach maturity, the programmes would require another round of scrutiny by the MQA.”
If there are issues to be dealt with, the MQA would require the universities concerned to fix these technical problems.
In the statement, Professor Raduan added: “During the recent accreditation audit, the University was given 30 days to amend and resubmit eight of our programmes which we have completed.”
With this, Professor Raduan urged students to remain calm. “We wish to reassure our students that there is no issue with the accreditation of the eight programmes which we are confident will be put back on track,” he said.
Professor Raduan is expected to address the concerns raised by the students tomorrow.
It is learnt that the eight postgraduate programmes mentioned by the students had full accreditation since 2012. An audit was carried out in 2018 based on the entire period between 2012 and 2017.
“Registration validity by the Ministry of Higher Education for all eight programmes have been renewed and allowed to run between 2022 and 2026,” a source said.
The media conference was organised by former education minister, Teo Nie Ching and Bangi MP, Dr Ong Kian Ming.
Meanwhile, MQA chief executive officer, Professor Mohammad Shatar Sabran could not be contacted. – May 5, 2021
Stephen Ng is an ordinary Malaysian who has contributed his thoughts on a number of issues to stimulate the country’s thinking public.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
