A KENYAN PhD student’s tussle with a Malaysian private university has highlighted the lack of clear visa criteria for foreign post-graduate students who want to work and study part-time.

Judith Wanda, a Kenyan student, is in a dispute with Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) which wants to terminate her PhD in the fourth and final year of her doctoral studies.

The shock decision by UTAR has Wanda seeking a refund for her flight tickets as well as payment for living costs in Malaysia, tuition fees to a new university of her choice, and a letter stating the reasons why she cannot complete her PhD in Malaysia.

Wanda, who has been doing her PhD over the last few years while working in Tanzania, told The Malaysian Insight that these demands were stipulated by the Education Ministry which is mediating the situation between her and UTAR.

MOE officials who are handling Wanda’s case, however, refused to comment or confirm the matter, saying they are not authorised to speak.

The 31-year-old Kenyan is disputing UTAR’s decision to terminate her studies as she had successfully completed the last few years of her PhD studies in Social Science at the university while working as a part-time staff there on a valid work permit.

When the time came for her work permit to be renewed in 2016, the Immigration Department told her to either become a full-time staff or to apply for a student visa in order to conduct her PhD research full time.

She said she and UTAR came to an agreement that she could continue as a part-time PhD student while working and living abroad in Tanzania, where she is an assistant lecturer at a university.

As a part-time student at UTAR, she was only required to be on campus for a limited number of days per year, which could be fulfilled on a normal social visit pass.

By this time, in August 2016, Wanda had successfully submitted her PhD topic and was given clearance to start gathering research. She left for Tanzania in Nov 2016.

Her research went smoothly and she was preparing to submit her PhD the following May when she was told by UTAR at the start of the 2018-2019 term that all students were now required to have student visas, even if they were only required to be on campus for a limited number of days as part-time students.

Wanda said this requirement followed a change of administration at UTAR.

Three weeks after the initial notice, she received another one informing her that she had been terminated from the PhD programme.

“I am so close to finishing my PhD, how could they do this? I have also been paying fees, it’s not as if I was on a scholarship. I just want to be a part-time student to finish my PhD. This had been our agreement.

“As a part-time student, I only need to be physically present on campus for 15 days in a year. I don’t need a student visa to do that,” she said.

Responding to Wanda’s claims, UTAR told The Malaysian Insight that its initial offer letter to her had clearly stated that her admission to the university was subject to the Immigration Department granting her a student pass.

“As a university, UTAR must work within the laws of the country. All international students must have a valid student visa to continue studying in UTAR,” said UTAR vice-president of Research & Development and Commercialisation Faidz Abdul Rahman.

“The university was left with no other choice but to terminate your candidature in order to comply with the immigration rules for international students.”

UTAR also said that it had communicated with Wanda several times, citing two attempts in April 2017 and April this year, asking her to clarify her student status but noted that she did not “respond positively” to suggestions about the need to obtain a student visa.

Wanda, however, said UTAR should have ironed out all visa issues with her in 2016 when both sides agreed to let her continue as a part-time PhD student while working abroad.

She is currently in Tanzania waiting to hear from the Education Ministry.

Some 177,000 foreign students are pursuing higher education in Malaysia and the ministry has targeted intake of 200,000 by 2020.

Malaysia has tried to position itself as an international education hub with lower fees and living costs compared to studying in western countries. – September 8, 2018.