The Universiti Malaya medical faculty has sent a written explanation to Education Minister Musa Mohamad about its involvement in a twinning programme with a Perak-based private medical college.

When contacted, an officer with the vice-chancellor's office said medical faculty dean Prof Dr Mohd Amin Jalaludin had already responded to the minister.

However, the officer added that the communication would not be made available to the press.

Last week, malaysiakini reported that UM was admitting students from the Perak College of Medicine into its medical faculty via a twinning programme although the college's admission standard is allegedly not on par with that of the central processing (UPU) system.

Responding to these complaints, Musa told reporters last Thursday that he had no knowledge of the twinning arrangement and said the ministry did not give an approval to any private college to collaborate with public universities in the medical course.

Temporary arrangement

Based on latest statistics, UM accepted 160 students into its medical faculty from the UPU system which bases its criteria on results obtained in the STPM and matriculation examinations.

Another 70 students have been admitted this year from PCM, raising questions as to whether these additional places in the public university should have been allocated to more deserving students through the UPU system.

To date, PCM CEO Abu Bakar Hashim would not respond directly to malaysiakini's queries.

However, an official from the college said the arrangement was a temporary one pending the completion of PCM's facilities and infrastructure by the following year.

"Students admitted this year will join UM for one year and transfer back to Perak once our facilities are completed. We will have our own lecturers and tutors.

"Those joining next year will undergo their pre-clinical studies in PCM and then move on to do their practical training at the Ipoh hospital. PCM will still offer the MBBS degree as the syllabus will be that of UM," said the official who declined to be named.

Discontinued arrangements

PCM had earlier offered a similar twinning programme with the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom but this was terminated in 2001. News students were then diverted to the UM medical faculty for their pre-clinical training.

When contacted by e-mail, Head of Sheffield's Department of Marketing and Communications Jon Pyle said the twinning programme with PCM was discontinued for two reasons, neither of which is related to the students' achievement levels.

"Firstly, the UK General Medical Council clarified its position on the recognition of degrees taken overseas, which meant that the University of Sheffield could no longer offer the degree.

"Secondly, the university has reviewed its own policy on franchising and validation, and as a result has withdrawn from other such arrangements elsewhere over the past two years. Our decision was not due to any dissatisfaction with PCM itself," he said.

'Back door' entry

It was learnt that the UM-PCM arrangement had also attracted controversy when the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) took place in November 2001 to enable PCM students to graduate with an UM medical degree.

According to a Nov 9, 2001 report in The Star, then UM vice-chancellor Prof Anuar Zaini Mohd Zain said PCM students were not coming in to the university's medical faculty through the "back door" as their achievements were comparable with other students.

"These are not second grade students. Their standard is equivalent to UM undergraduates who enter the normal way," he was reported as saying.

Anuar had also refuted suggestions that the additional students from PCM would be a drain on UM's resources.

He said, "UM has adequate facilities and will be able to accommodate the students for the first two years of the pre-clinical studies although we might have to buy additional equipment."

He also said that under the MoU, PCM would be required to hire more staff to cope with the additional students as the university did not want to "overload their staff".

However, students have complained that there has been no significant addition in space, facilities or number of lecturers at the UM medical faculty although the number of students per class has swelled from 16 to 23 with the addition of the PCM students.

Perak state link

Meanwhile, the Star report also said that PCM was set up in 1999 and is owned by a body incorporated under the Perak State Secretary.

Perak Menteri Besar Mohamad Tajol Rosli was quoted as saying that PCM's mission was to be a premier private medical institution in the state and region.

The issue of university admission standards arose recently after MIC president S Samy Vellu questioned the admission of only one Indian Malaysian student to the UM medical faculty this year as compared to 16 under the quota system applicable before year 2002.

Although Education Minister Musa Mohamad attributed this selection to a merit-based system (adopted since last year), critics have expressed doubt whether students can be properly ranked without a common entrance examination.

Allegations also surfaced that students admitted to the UM medical faculty via the PCM twinning programme had lower achievement levels compared to those selected from the UPU system.