By Hajaratu Kalokoh
Government sponsored students at the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology have expressed concern over the continued delay in the payment of their tuition fees, which they say has prevented them from attending lectures, four weeks since they commenced.
Only students who are sponsored privately are currently attending lectures.
While the government said it had reached an understanding with the university administration that could have seen all the students attend lectures, the students say they were not even allowed to register for courses.
Rashidatu Watta Kamara, a student of Business Information Technology, who is under government scholarship, told Politico that the administration warned them not to interrupt the private students during the registration process. She believed that was a tacit way of telling them to stay away from the school.
“This is so boring and I feel rejected and neglected by the government,” she lamented.
Fellow student in the Faculty of Information Technology, who prefers anonymity, expressed frustration at the experience.
“This is unfortunate and frustrating and it is hard to conceive that private students are attending classes,” they said.
This stand-off between the government and Limkokwing started since last year, following rumours that the Bio administration did not intend to honor the agreement between the previous government and the university. The issue led to delay in the reopening of the university last October.
In January, the affected students staged a peaceful protest at the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education in an effort to draw government’s attention to their plight.
The Ministry recently made an assurance to the students and the university management that it was committed to paying the fees. Representatives of the ministry were even cited in reports saying that they had reached an agreement with the university administration for the students to register and continue their course.
Gilbert Cooper, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry, also confirmed this to Politico this week.
Speaking about the stalemate with the university, Cooper said the government inherited a backlog of payment amounting to Le25 billion, and that after a negotiation that amount was reduced to Le23 billion.
The government, according to Cooper, has already paid Le22billion of that amount. He said they have already had a payment plan for the remaining Le1 billion.
Cooper also said that they have been engaging the university on the issue.
‘’The bone of contention is [that] they said we have not paid, so as an institution they have not even allowed students to register, let alone start classes, which I consider to be a ransom,” he stated.
An official of the university who spoke to Politico on condition of anonymity confirmed that they were in “constant engagement” with the government.
“Things will be fixed. This is progress. As always we encourage them (students) to exercise patience, as negotiation will be finalized shortly,” they said.
The privately managed university, which has its headquarters in Malaysia, charges US$3,500 for tuition for a degree programme and US$2,500 for diploma courses.
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