Saddled with debt and no diploma, ex-students vent frustrations

PS Jeyaraj, 24, completed his two-and- a-half-year diploma in biomedical science in 2014.

Today, he works part-time at a customer service centre, a job which he applied using his Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) certificate.

He is also barred from leaving the country, being unable to repay his more than RM30,000 National Higher Education Loan Fund (PTPTN) debt.

Jeyaraj is angry at his situation and the Technology Park Malaysia College (TPM College) from which he had obtained his diploma, which failed to obtained accreditation from the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA).

Jeyaraj, together with a group of 24 former students in the same situation, were at Technology Park Malaysia Corporation (TPMC) headquarters in Bukit Jalil yesterday to discuss the matter but their frustration boiled over and it turned into a protest.

"What I'm doing now is not at all what I want to do in my life. But I guess I don't have much of a choice anymore.

"I wasted so much of my time and money in waiting," he told Malaysiakini.

TPM College was formerly owned by Technology Park Malaysia Corporation but in 2013, it sold a 75 percent stake to Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara).

The former students claimed that when they enrolled in the biomedical science course, it had partial accreditation and the original college owners had assured them that by the time they graduated, there would be full accreditation.

However, they claimed the college did not pursue full accreditation after it was sold to Mara.

Misled by college

The former students claim that they were misled by TPM College.

Technology Park Malaysia Corporation business development and corporate services division general manager Zulkifli Ismail, who met the former students, stressed that TPMC had continued to pursue full accreditation from MQA even after the sale of the college.

"TPMC did not, to the best of our knowledge, mislead our students with regards to the full accreditation program.

"The college was informed in February 2015 that its MQA that its application for full accreditation for the course was unsuccessful.

"This was followed by immediate appeals to the chief executive officer of MQA as well as the education minister," he said in a statement.

Malaysiakini has also contacted Mara, the 75 percent stakeholder of the college, about the matter.

Mara's corporate communications division acknowledged the problem, stating that it will issue a formal statement soon.

The group protesting today said they had been verbally offered RM7,000 compensation each and an offer to be placed in another course at the college but no formal offer was ever made and none had taken it up.

The former students added they are now having a hard time finding a job related to their field of study due to the accreditation issue.

"After my internship, I applied for a full-time position as a medical lab assistant.

"Despite my qualifications, I was told I would never be able to find a job with my worthless diploma," said 24-year-old M Pavithra.

Some of the students were lucky to use their unaccredited diploma to pursue their degree, on the premise it would be accredited in future, but not in the field they want.

Pavithra, for example, had to switch field to biology in order to secure an accreditated degree.

"I gave up the idea of being a microbiologist or genetic engineer. With that diploma, I could have furthered myself in that field, but with a degree in biology, I can't really do that, now can I?" she lamented.

She is also scared of being outed as a fraud as she was offered admission to a university based on the unaccredited diploma.

The biomedical science diploma course is no longer offered at the college.

Some students left the science field completely, like Jeyaraj, who took up occupational science and therapy studies.

With mounting education debt, Jeyaraj and the other former students are worried about their future. -Mkini