A little bird dropped me an email regarding some accomodation issue which happened to be at University Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), started since 2001 and it spans until now.

Accordingly, the Student Affairs Department (HEP) proposed that ALL students must stay in the campus, stated security concern as the main issue.

Meanwhile, construction of new hostels was already in final stages.

While some of the students might appreciate the goodwill of HEP, other concerns arose which might as well cause students new problems. HEP and students must come out with a dialogue session to eliminate the discrepancies,
If it’s really for students’ good, something must be done to help those involved, not to furthermore burden them, in case there is any.

After all, the existence of student affairs department in every university are meant to help people, isn’t it? Correct me, if I’m wrong.

Event Chronology:

Session 2001/2002 semester 2

The construction of new blocks in KTF, KTHO, KTR, KP,
K9, K10, K11, K12, K13, K14, K15, K16 and K17 were in
final stages. Students Affairs Department (HEP) had
begun to take over the administration of new blocks
from Campus Development Department (Pejabat
Pembangunan)

Session 2002/2003 semester 1

In mid June, after passing some regulations, HEP
proposed that, due to the deterioration of security
outside the campus, and reasons like newly built
blocks are more comfortable to live in, all students
must shift into colleges provided by HEP.

All students were not satisfied with the proposal as
soon as the news spread out. Since it was just a
proposal, no further actions were taken. Moreover
several student representatives came forth to voice
out the problems faced by the majority staying outside
such as termination of house contract, telephone
deposits and so on. So, after several weeks of
discussion, HEP implemented the order only on newly
enrolled students while those who were already staying
outside would be exempted.

Session 2003/2004 semester 1

HEP finally announced the full scale implementation of
the above order, that all new students enrolled in
session 2002/2003 and later, must remain in campus
colleges every semester till the end of their study in
UTM.

Session 2004/2005 semester 1

Due to the status conversion from diploma to degree,
some 150 ex-diploma students from Faculty of Build
Environment (FAB) were treated as newly enrolled
students and they were forced to stay in campus though
many of them had been staying outside for quite a
period.

Facing problems such as violation of house contract
due to sudden termination, all the involved students
might lose their deposit as compensation. Therefore
they submit their letters of appeal to the Vice
Chancellor of Student Affairs Department (HEP)
together but until now, no decisions were made by the
authorities yet.

While waiting for approval, the students were forced
to pay the rental for campus colleges besides having
to pay rental for rooms outside campus. The worst part
was that all the students mentioned above were unable
to obtain loan from PTPTN due to some technical
difficulties. In the end they had to pay approximately
extra RM480 per person for campus rental. Is it fair
for them?

Anyone in the know and know more, please feedback.

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