UNIVERSITI Malaya students, especially those in non-technical streams with few if any practical assignments, should be allowed to continue online classes, Universiti Malaya Students’ Union said today.

The union said the university management should at least let students choose between online or physical modes of teaching instead of forcing them back into the lecture halls.

“This is because at the start of the semester, the students were already given notice that classes would resume online for the semester. They have relied on this notice and have made the necessary arrangements.

“Now, they should not become the victims of the university administration’s U-turn by being forced to pay for accommodation and travelling expenses when half the semester has lapsed,” the union said in a statement.

The union said that last week 13,475 students (78.5% of the undergraduate population) signed a petition demanding they be given the freedom to choose their mode of learning for this semester.

The union also said it was not interested in excuses about administrative communication problems, adding that the decision by the Student Affairs Division (HEP) to help students with accommodation assistance is just an “empty promise”.

“There are not enough residential college rooms to accommodate all the students in need,” said the union.

It added that it had given the HEP a list of 1,875 students in need of accommodation but many applications were not entertained.

“Furthermore, as of April 14, 2022, there are only 583 empty residential rooms open for application, which means that history is bound to repeat itself soon.”

The union further said that the university administration has also failed to address issues of where students would be quarantined after all the rooms have been filled.

“Additionally, the university administration is not giving out accommodation ‘assistance’.

“They are just using students to cover their operational costs by forcing them to pay for a full semester’s worth of accommodation fees although the students will only be checking in during week 8 of the semester.”

The situation arose after UM announced that all students should return to attend physical classes halfway through this current semester despite announcing earlier that they could attend online classes.

Classes have been held online during the Covid-19 pandemic. – April 18, 2022.