Khaled calls on varsity to attract more male students - Bernama

Higher Education Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin threw a challenge to Open University Malaysia (OUM) today to provide more studying opportunities for male students.

"We are giving OUM the challenge of providing non-academic courses to attract more male students so that they will not left out of the country's human development initiatives," he said.

He was speaking at the launching of OUM's Open Day and Certificate in Freight Logistic Management and Operations Programme at its learning centre Johor Baru today.

According to Khaled, the total number of female students in public and private institutions stands at 70 percent.

Earlier OUM president Prof Emeritus Anuwar Ali said in his speech that the 12-month basic freight logistics certificate programme was being conducted by the Institute of Professional Development-Open University Malaysia and PortsWorld Sdn Bhd.

Astronaut gives talk

The programme was developed to meet the high demand from the logistics and supply chain management as well as the supporting staff needed for the growing industry in the country.

Students participating in the programme will undergo six months of lecture on theories and six months of practical training at logistics companies.

The programme modules covered elements of freight logistics, distribution service, transaction documentation, application system, supply chain and business communications.

Apart from exhibitions, the open day also featured a talk by Malaysian astronaut Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha for schoolchildren.

Ministry comes down hard on errant private colleges - The Star

By Richard Lim

PETALING JAYA: The Higher Education Ministry is coming down hard on private colleges which offer unrecognised courses.

The ministry has issued 47 summonses to several colleges and university colleges to appear in court for offering unregistered or unapproved programmes, and has warned that students enrolled in unaccredited and unrecognised courses run the risk of missing out on job opportunities or avenues for further studies.

The colleges were also hauled up for various other offences, such as relocation to new premises without approval; and for employing lecturers without teaching permits.

The ministry's enforcement and inspectorate division director Dr Naimah Md Khalil said the most recent cases involved two private providers which contravened the guidelines under the Private Higher Educational Institutions Act 1996 (Act 555) and this was a serious offence.

“Only the registrar-general can approve courses which have been given the stamp of quality from the Malaysian Qualifications Agency,” she said.

In the first case, a college in Petaling Jaya which specialised in fashion and jewellery design (which has since changed its branding) was fined RM120,000 for offering five unapproved courses.

Several factors were considered by the Sessions Court judge, such as the number of students enrolled and the course fee for each programme, among others.

As a result, the fine for offering a degree programme in fashion design was RM50,000 while the degree in jewellery design earned the college a RM10,000 penalty.

The second case, involving a university college in Kuala Lumpur, was more intricate as the private provider realised albeit too late that it had made an error.

Attempts to rectify the problem the offering of five unapproved undergraduate and postgraduate courses related to music were made and the judge took everything into account.

However, the college was still slapped with a RM65,000 compound fine.

On the verdicts, Dr Naimah said such action would serve as deterrents for errant education providers.

The court cases complement recently released ministry statistics, which reveal that 47 compound notices were slapped on errant private education providers from January to March this year, compared to 47 last year and nine in 2009.

The cumulative amount of compound notices issued up to March was around RM470,000.

In April, higher education deputy director-general (private higher education institutions) Prof Datin Dr Siti Hamisah Tapsir said the ministry would also get tough with colleges that use gimmicks like “free laptops and accommodation” being offered to new students.