All categories of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) administrative staff, lecturers and security personnel have been empowered to take action against students who flout the dress-code set by the university.

Any student who is not appropriately dressed will be stopped from entering campus and those who do not follow the dress code can be reported by any of the staff down to the administrative assistant and lab assistant to the university administration, according to a circular 'Penguatkuasaan Peraturan Berpakaian Di Unimas Seperti Kelulusan Jawatankuasa Pengurusan Unimas 20 Jan 2005'.

Complaints against student violations of dress-code are to be made in a standard form to be forwarded to the university administration for action to be taken, it added.

Under the Universities and University Colleges Act, all state universities can introduce their own dress-codes but enforcement is often slack and university administrators often turn their eyes away, unless the students are dressed in what one lecturer described as outrageous clothes.

Unimas has about 5000 students with about 400 teaching staff.

A Unimas lecturer who asked not to be quoted told malaysiakini that "it does seem the administration is getting their priorities not quite right."

"They should be concentrating on improving the quality and standard of university education instead of appointing moral bigots to be on the look-out for students within the campus who do not follow the dress-code rules," he added.

The circular sent out to all professors, lecturers and administrative staff carries a picture of four types of uniforms or dresses each for male and female students that they could choose to wear.

The circular follows the recent appointment of a new vice chancellor Professor Abdul Rashid Abdullah on February 1, 2005, succeeding Professor Yusuf Hadi whose term has expired but who remains a lecturer on the campus.

Poor English standard

Several lecturers have voiced their concern at what they say is the declining standards in the level of university education, saying that on a scale of one to 10, giving Unimas 4-5 would be 'quite generous.'

"It is very difficult to find a Unimas student who can converse fluently in English," one of them told malaysiakini.

Earlier reports that the Ministry of Education has directed that English be used as medium of instruction in all faculties by early next year appear to be not quite correct.

"But some conscientious efforts are being made to improve the use of English, but this will take time, especially among the present crop of students who are nearly all from Bahasa Malaysia-medium schools," he said.

Meantime, the new campus facilities situated further down the present site in Samarahan, near Kuching, will be ready for some of the faculties to move in by July this year.

The RM600 million new campus is being built in phases to include hostels for students, apart from administrative buildings and lecture halls.