GEORGE TOWN – The postgraduate medical student at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) who had claimed favouritism and bullying by the institution’s professors said the students generally are mostly unaware of the existence of an ombudsman and the WhistleBlower Act to protect complainants.
The student who declined to be identified also pointed out that fellow postgraduates will probably not engage an ombudsman as they fear such issues can be manipulated when an internal query is performed.
The student was responding to retired USM professor Datuk Omar Shawkataly’s advice for students facing issues with their advisers and deans to seek the help of their university’s ombudsman.
“The affected candidates could have dealt with the issue internally as the ombudsman could have mediated on their behalf. They could also meet the vice-chancellor and the deputy vice-chancellor of academic and international department for help,” said Omar, who was a USM senate member for five terms and sat on the USM board of governors for two terms.
Yesterday, it was reported that a postgraduate medical student alleged his lecturers for practising favouritism and bullying.
The student, who is also a medical officer, alleged that exam questions were given to favoured students and those who are not in the lecturers’ good books are often given low grades.
He also claimed that there is a lack of transparency in grading even though the Membership Examination of the Surgical Royal Colleges of Great Britain and Ireland (MRCS) exam requires students to be shown which component they failed so they can improve on it in the future.
Earlier, USM’s School of Medical Sciences dean Prof Dr Abdul Razak Sulaiman said it has been their culture to take all comments seriously and dissect them for quality control purposes.
“As an early response to these issues, I would like to say that we have 20 master's programmes for doctors. Candidates in the programmes will be assessed by examiners from different institutions (universities and the Health Ministry), including external examiners who have no prior knowledge about the candidates.
“The faculty has a committee to vet all written questions. The essay questions are graded by more than one lecturer based on a marking scheme, while the multiple-choice questions were checked by a computer system.
“The syllabus is made available to the candidates. Students were given feedback on which section they have failed.”
Dr Razak told The Vibes that the university also allows candidates to request regrading whenever suitable.
“We welcome comments through the e-aduan (online reporting) system at https://medic.usm.my/e-aduan, whereby the identity of the person is protected.
“We also believe that there is always room for improvement.” – The Vibes, June 1, 2022
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