OMAN prohibited its people from enrolling in Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (Usim) because of “administrative issues”, said Usim vice-chancellor Prof Dr Musa Ahmad.

In a Bernama report today, Musa said he had met with the Omani cultural attache who had explained that the prohibition was due to “visa application, academic management and the financial process”.

“The ban against Usim is not related to the quality of our academic programmes and it is clearly indicated that our academic programmes are of a high quality and in line with the rigorous assessment that the university goes through to obtain accreditation from the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) for each programme.

“The ban was made due to administrative issues at Usim level including visa application, academic management, and financial process,” Musa said in a statement today.

Musa said following a review, Usim admitted there were “weaknesses” within the internal administration of the university and that some time was required to resolve specific problems as they were closely linked to current policies of the university and external agencies.

Musa announced that a task force comprising representatives of Usim and the Omani Cultural Attache would be formed to promptly address the issues.

“We will also seek further clarification from Oman’s Higher Education Ministry on the withdrawal of recognition for the university, and will provide an official response to Oman’s cultural attache to any issue the ministry may raise.”

He said the Omani cultural attache office has expressed its commitment to help the university regain recognition without going through a re-registration process at the Omani Higher Education Ministry. 

Musa expressed regret that the Omani ban had been negatively interpreted and affected the reputation of Usim.

On October 1, Oman’s Higher Education Ministry barred its students from enrolling in four universities in Malaysia that allegedly had issues of academic and administrative abuses.

The four universities are Usim, Segi University, Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, and Binary University of Management and Entrepreneurship.

Higher Education Minister Idris Jusoh said on Thursday ministry officials would meet with their Omani counterparts on Monday to find out why the Arab country has forbidden its students from enrolling in the four private Malaysian universities.– October 6, 2017.