Thursday, April 21, 2011

High failure rate of sponsered medical students in Egypt

Warm Regard, Sara Pandian

Dear Sir,

On the 4th April, 2011, The Minister of Higer Education claimed that students sent toEgypt to study Medicine under various sponsorship programs (MARA, JPA, numerous GLCs, State and Federal Government wings ect. ect.)are showing a HIGH FAILURE rate. In that news item that appeared in the STAR, he also claimed that these universities in Egypt accepted students with 'inadequate or inferior / low-level' qualifications to read medicine there in spite of the fact that the OFFICIALLY the Egyptian Government stipulates Grade B+ in eight (8) subjects at SPM level. He did not state what this B+ is all about since in SPM, Grade B can vary between from pass level 3 to level 6.

Another interesting fact he revealed at is that all these sponsored students went there after doing a short "bridging" course done locally. As a general rule, sponsored students even if they fail or repeat (whole year or part of a year) they are still supported by funds to continue and finish their studies. The JPA grants not less than USD 500/ per month for a single student's living expense alone. This is almost equal to that of the monthly pay of a medical lecturer in Egypt .

MARA maintains extensive complexes to receive, familiarize its own students practically at every major study centres within Egypt (may be all over the world too)atpublic expenditure. For an example, the one at Alexanderia in Egypt alone can accommodate some 400 at a time. Just imagine, these are just to receive, familiarise, comfort the in-coming students.

During the recent turmoil in Egypt , there was no news that a single foreigner was hurt. It was purely an Egyptian affair. This sad episode of throwing millions to bring back (together their 'foreign husband / wife' and children) to Malaysia and then sending back again at government expenditure (with pocket money too) clearly showed the "grand style and fashion" of how public money is spent and life is enjoyed by a privileged group. By a conservative estimate, based on the news on exodus, one can estimate that there are almost 30,000 to 50,000 students in Egypt alone and out of this number, it is not imprudent to say at least 12,000 to 18,000 of them are studying Medicine, Dentistry and other allied health science-related areas all at public expenditure. Long-live PETRONAS and MALAYSIA BOLEH.

For a continuation of this "excellent way of going towards Mamak's Vision 2020BOLEH" please read the attachment


Attachment extract
I wish to refer “Students in Egypt keep failing” reported by the minister of HE in STAR Monday 4th April.. This news is quite strange and begs for more answers.
Since 2004, the MoHE had mandated that any Malaysian intending to study Medicine oversea must FIRST have an entry level grade 3 in three science and one math subjects in SPM in addition to having Grade point 3.0 at STPM Science or ‘any equivalent’ program. Only after having these compulsory academic requirements, the aspirant can file an application for and obtain the “No-Objection Letter (NOL)” from the MoHE at Putrajaya. Apart from the above, the aspirant’s SPM must also be endorsed by the Wismaputra officials.
Having such strict rules, how at the first place “these students were able to enroll in these universities despite not having proper qualification”. How were they able to obtain NOL at the first place from the MoHE?. If they had gone to Egypt without the NOL, how was this possible since at present as many as 16,000 are in Egypt alone registered to study Medicine and Dentistry and almost all of them are understood to be one way or the other “sponsored students”. Since these students are normally placed there by MoHE approved agents operating in Malaysia , how was it possible for these agents to send these unqualified students to Egypt without fulfilling the MoHE basic rules?
The same news item claims that Egyptian government stipulates SPM 8B+ passes to enter medical courses there. If that is the case, how on earth these universities can admit students below this set minimum standard? Are these universities above the Egyptian Government control? Or else they are willing to bend the rules on they own for the sake of money? The minister also claimed that many of these ‘under-qualified’ students went through a “foundation program” to enter medical studies. The fact is this so-called ‘foundation’ or ‘bridging’ programs are often run locally only after MoHE and LAN’s scrutiny and prior approval. It is a known fact that these programs last only a short duration of 7 to 9 months and definitely NOT a match to GCE A levels or STPM. Having known this common fact, why did the MoHE or LAN gave approval to these bridging courses to be conducted in Malaysia ? Why the relevant controlling bodies did not ensure that these programs are of ‘equal standing to STPM level’ and stipulate a condition that those going for these courses must have a very higher level of SPM passes such as 9A’s at the first place?
The ex-MMC boss and the then Minister of Education were very vocal and worked very hard in suspending a certain foreign university in 2005 by claiming that the particular university had admitted students with SPM Arts even though at that point of time there were no such qualification-based restrictions or requirement of NOL to study medicine abroad. In spite of such absence, that university was suspended and remains suspended till now. Can the MoHE now apply the same rules to suspend all these universities in Egypt for they accepting under-qualified ones to study medicine, flouting their own government rules in admitting them and also for working in cohort with local Malaysian agents (including government agencies) to recruit students just for the want of money?

No comments:

Search This Blog