MEETING WITH THE PRESIDENT OF IIUM, TAN SRI SIDEK HASSAN

Date : 11 September 2009 (Friday)

Venue : Kompleks Kerajaan Persekutuan, Putrajaya

Time : 3.00 p.m – 5.30 p.m

The SRC Exco members both from Gombak and Kuantan Campus together with Presidents of Clubs and Societies have met IIUM President on 11 September 2009 for a meeting which basically aims to discuss problems and issues together with ways or steps in improving IIUM as a prestigious higher learning institute.

In the meeting after giving muqaddimah on the brief picture on IIUM’s achievement, some issues were raised for Tan Sri’s attention and further action.

1. Issue on the problem of unemployment especially amongst the nursing students

IIUM has made a good move in introducing Nursing course which is now offered in Kuantan Campus. However, regretfully the students there are not eligible to be sponsored by Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam on the basis that it is not a critical course.

Furthermore, the worst situation is that IIUM Nursing graduates are having difficulty in placing themselves in the job market and the graduates from this course most of them are rather jobless or do not work in the nursing area.

Since IIUM is going to have its on hospital, it is hoped that our nursing students will be given priority in getting the job there.

Tan Sri viewed this as a serious matter and the society concerned was later asked to submit details written report on this to him.

2. The quality of human resource in the university

The problem of unemployment is also faced by ICT graduates and one of the detected factors is due to the lack exposure on practical part.

It appears that the lecturers are running away form the university securing a better place in other universities or institutes. This had caused problems to the students since not all the lectures have experience and attachment to the industry which is very important especially to ICT students whom their studies depend much on the development of the technology.

In responding to this, Deputy Rector of Student Affairs, Prof Dr. Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmod commented that steps have been taken so far by hiring academic fellows who have vast experience in the industry such as from MIMOS.

3. Integration of courses – Double degree scheme

We request for the double degree scheme to be widened so as to open a bigger opportunity for the students. Currently, besides of double degree programme offered in AIKOL for LLBS (Syariah), students from Economics can also do double degree in IRK. However, for those who do not have the strength in understanding Arabic language does not have the opportunity to take up the double degree scheme.

Deputy Rector of Student Affairs commented that the effort to this is continuously done currently. Any suggestion of intention for doing double degree programme, should also be voiced up to the dean of respected Kulliyyah.

4. Certification Programme

It is raised that, the certification programme from outside companies is not available for international student especially for ICT students. Opportunity should be opened to the international students too for them to gain the benefit from this kind of programme.

5. Budget for students’ activities

The issue on budget for students’ activities was also highlighted. We request for increment in the budget as the current allocation is not sufficient. For instance, RM 20 000 given to SRC to be divided to Gombak and Kuantan campus is definitely not sufficient for the organization to run their programmes and activities.

As an answer to this, there may be some space for special allocation of budget from the Students Trust Fund if the programme proposed is a ‘special’ programme which really needs to be organized. However, we all be reminded that due to the economic recession, the amount of budget is reviewed very carefully especially for the coming tenureship.

6. Well coordinated students programme

From the issue of insufficient budget, it is proposed that a one day standardized period for AGM for all societies can be set to avoid redundancy of programmes amongst the societies.

7. Election in KBS

It is proposed that election should be done in choosing the leaders in Kulliyah Based Societies as what has been practiced in AIKOL. This is for the all the students to vote for the one who is going to be their leader. Therefore, a broader platform is prepared for the students to know and select their leader and the opportunity is not just confined to those who attend the AGM of the societies.

8. SRC General Election

We request for seats for Institute of Education (INSTED) since right now there are onlt two representatives from IRKHS and INSTEAD in SRC. This definitely cannot accommodate the large number of students from IRK, HS, BAR and INSTED. We viewed that INSTED deserves to own representative to voice out their demands and problems.

9. Kuantan Campus

SRC representative from Kuantan Campus raised the concern that Kuantan Campus is not well known to the public. This may be due to lack of publicity and focus to Kuantan Campus.

10. JPA scholarship for Kuantan Campus

Students in Kuantan who received JPA scholarship questioned the reason Kuantan is placed in Cluster B which means the amount given is lesser than from the one classified in Cluster A such as in Gombak.

As a matter of fact, the cost of living there more or less is the same as in Kuala Lumpur. Therefore, the classification of Kuantan to be included in Cluster should be reviewed.

The president responded that this matter will be brought to JPA and details of the matter such as the memorandum done on this matter to be submitted to him.

11. Insufficient lecturers in INSTED

The lecturers in INSTEAD currently is not sufficient to accommodate the number of the students there. For example, for counseling department there are only two lecturers who are from counseling background.

The matters raised may not be resolved yet by just having the meeting. Therefore, this requests insyaAllah will then be submitted in written form for the University’s attention and action.

The President welcomed the openness for the betterment of the university. He advised us to engage with the ministries, public and private sectors, civil servants and also the industry we are concerned of. We should listen to them and get them listen our demands, requests and suggestions.