'Housing agents not paid, MUST students evicted'
Students of the Malaysian University of Science and Technology (MUST), which had received a RM100 million government grant in 2001, are now being "moved about" as the university has failed to uphold its offer of free accommodation.
Students of the Malaysian University of Science and Technology (MUST), which had received a RM100 million government grant in 2001, are now being "moved about" as the university has failed to uphold its offer of free accommodation.
PKR's Seri Setia assemblyperson Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad claimed that students at the private university have approached him, saying that they are being evicted as the university has failed to pay accommodation agents.
"The university had made the offer of free accommodation for one batch of students, perhaps in their marketing strategy,” he told a press conference today.
"It then made a deal with the agents, and the agents were to pay the landlord, but the university is not paying the agents so the students are getting kicked out."
Making matters worse, said Nik Nazmi, students are also being charged for accommodation through their National Higher Education Fund loans even though they have been evicted.
He also claims that MUST has been "delaying payments" to accommodation and enrollment agents for up to eighteen months.
Malaysiakini has contacted MUST and is awaiting a reply.
Last year, it was reported that the university, set up as a premier university with a joint venture with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had been left with less than RM10 million to keep afloat.
The university was founded in 2001 by then cabinet minister Effendi Norwawi.
Lecturers not paid?
Nik Nazmi said that the MUST's alleged financial woes is also affecting its teaching staff, some of whom were forced to leave as the university "can only afford to offer three-month contracts".
He added that the teaching staff were "being paid late" and have "refused to teach" because of this.
"We were also made to understand that the first batch of foundation students that entered MUST in 2008 consists of only two students while the first batch of degree students that entered MUST in 2009 has only four students left," he said.
In contrast, he said, MIT's collaboration with the National University Singapore and Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, have been successful.
"Ironically, the Singapore-MIT Alliance came about when the MIT team came to Malaysia to sign the agreement with MUST and had a stopover in Singapore... Yet, the alliance has grown in leaps and bounds while MUST has foundered," he said.
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