Fifteen international students have sent a letter of demand to Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) seeking RM7.5 million over accreditation issues related to its courses.
This includes five students who joined a group of 10 international students who had sent a letter of demand for RM5 million last year, bringing the total amount to RM7.5 million.
The demand for monetary compensation resulted from the university having its accreditation for a number of courses revoked by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) in 2020, ultimately depriving its postgraduate degrees of international legitimacy.
According to a letter of demand sighted by Malaysiakini, the former students seek RM500,000 each in damages from the university.
A breakdown of the damages sought includes RM500,000 from the institution for travel to and from their countries of origin, living expenses in Malaysia and miscellaneous payments and fees in order to pursue their courses.
It is understood that the students sent the letter of demand on May 11 and have yet to get a response from the university.
The 15 former students hail from Iran, Bangladesh, Comoros, Pakistan, Nigeria, Senegal, Syria, Turkmenistan, and the Gambia. They had completed their respective courses, which they later realised were not accredited by the MQA.
These postgraduate courses include the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Management, Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Project Management, and MBA in Entrepreneurship.
The students raised the matter to the institution, which then assured them that they were working closely with MQA and that their programme would gain full accreditation status again by the time they graduated. However, the issue was prolonged until September 2021, but the accreditation was never granted.
840 students previously affected
This was a familiar assurance given to other former students of LUCT who are not part of the current litigation.
In April 2021, a letter representing 840 concerned students was sent to LUCT, demanding that the institution resolve the accreditation issue before graduation or otherwise provide them with compensation. LUCT requested that they be given till May 2021 for them to resolve the issues to which they failed to comply.
To date, the accreditation issue does not appear to have been resolved.
Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi among the 15 students demanding compensation from LUCT, claimed that the institution offered undergraduates an alternative option of an accredited Master's degree instead of addressing the issues at hand.
He said this was done to cover up the fact that his undergraduate degree, Bachelor in Cloud Computing Technology, was not accredited.
"We thought we'd go for the Master's instead to make up for not having an accredited degree, but after two semesters, the accreditation was revoked by MQA," said Chowdhury, who was led to believe that the postgraduate course that he was pursuing was accredited.
In the letter of demand sighted by Malaysiakini, the PhD students claimed they were forced to switch to a newly introduced programme, which despite being unaccredited, was at a higher cost. When the students refused, they were allegedly threatened with issues involving visa renewals.
"Our duration of the study was supposed to be six years but after three years, we faced problems with our visas," said Asal, a former postgraduate student from Iran.
She even noted that most of the PhD students were left with no choice but to stop their studies and leave the country.
According to Asal, the former students reached out to the Ministry of Higher Education for help, but their pleas were not heard.
"We requested them to transfer us, but they didn't. So, we had to leave the country after spending almost four years of our life where our money was also wasted," she said.
Out of the 15 students, 10 graduated, three discontinued their studies, and another two failed to graduate.
Despite their courses not being accredited, some of the students were allegedly asked to fork out extra fees to obtain their certificates of completion.
According to Chowdhury, the amount includes the loss of income the former students face due to unemployment after receiving their unrecognised education.
Emotional distress
Adding to their frustration of completing courses that ended up not being accredited and globally recognised, the former students express experiencing emotional distress regarding the shame they brought upon their families when they returned to their countries without a legitimate degree.
"I feel lost," Chowdhury said.
"My father spent his full amount of pension money and other savings to pay for my tuition fees which ended up not being accredited," he lamented.
After graduation, Chowdhury was unable to tell his parents that his three years of study abroad had gone to waste.
Despite their losses, Asal is determined to stand her ground.
"This is the game they play to make us tired and give up.
"However, I want to let them know that this time, we won't give up and will stand up for our rights," she said.
Malaysiakini has attempted to contact LUCT over the latest allegations and has also tried to get in touch with the Ministry of Higher Education but has yet to receive any response at publication time. - Mkini
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