GEORGE TOWN – Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is planning to dissolve its pioneering School of Distance Education (SDE) as part of a broader “restructuring” initiative of the 52-year-old university.
USM senate member Prof Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid said the proposal was submitted by vice-chancellor Prof Faisal Rafiq Mahamd Adikan at the university’s senate meeting on September 23.
Apart from SDE, he said, USM also plans to restructure three other institutions.
They are the School of Languages, Literacies & Translation; the National Poison Centre; and the Institute of Nano Optoelectronics Research and Technology.
“This structuring is from the vice-chancellor himself. However, the meeting agreed that each institution involved will have a task force committee comprising three senate members from various backgrounds.
“They will assess the validity and capability of each institution and will report the results at the next senate meeting on November 25.
“That is also where we will know whether it (restructuring) needs to continue, or otherwise. It seems that our future lies with these three senate members,” he said during a casual chat with former SDE lecturers and students broadcast live on Facebook last night.
USM’s distance education programme was initiated in 1971 as an off-campus programme.
According to the SDE website, it was Malaysia’s first programme to offer university education via distance learning in the country.
Fauzi said that if it is closed, the SDE building will be turned into a one-stop centre or service centre.
SDE currently has its own core lecturers exclusively dedicated to the teaching of distance learning students.
Fauzi, himself a political science lecturer at SDE, added that the centre’s closure would have an impact on distance learning students because lecturers will also pay attention to full-time students in normal learning mode.
“This is proof of the previous administration’s care for their students,” he said, explaining that having lecturers solely dedicated to SDE allowed them to give its students undivided attention.
On Monday, The Vibes reported that USM students in distance learning programmes have launched a petition following allegations that the management is looking to “restructure” it.
The alumni and students also started a hashtag #prayforpppjjusm on social media to protest the supposed move.
Meanwhile, former SDE dean Ku Azam Tuan Lonik said he did not know what really caused the USM administration to propose the move.
He said that as the dean during Faisal’s first visit to SDE in November 2019, he had applied to shorten the degree period for advanced distance learning students from five years to four.
“I was asked to bring the proposal to the senate meeting and it was approved. Then in August 2020 I was asked to present the viability of SDE, and this went well.
“So I don’t know what the real cause for such a decision could be. It’s as if there was a ‘revelation’ from the top.”
Ku Azam said that if the USM management wants to restructure the distance learning programme, it should make improvements, not go backwards.
He said the centre was based on issues identified 35 years ago, such as on how to ensure student retention with specialised distance learning lecturers and faculty under one roof.
The institution has produced many graduates in various professional fields, among them the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Melaka Tun Mohd Ali Rustam.
It is understood that Ali is aware of the current issue and has proposed the establishment of a student action body so that this matter can be highlighted to the Higher Education Ministry.
University officials could not be reached for comment. – The Vibes, September 29, 2021
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