University Sains Malaysia (USM) staff and students are furious over the continuous disruption to the Internet connection there for over a month.

Its Academic and Administrative Staff Association president Prof Wan Abdul Manan Wan Muda said such problems should not occur.

"It should not happen at all. Probably this is why USM fell out of the (Times Higher Education Supplement World University) ranking...this is a wake up call for the university.

"You should transfer the persons in charge to other positions if they are incapable of doing their job. Get someone else who is more capable," he stressed when contacted yesterday.

In order to be reputable, he said it is vital for a university to have advanced information technology capabilities.

Wan Abdul said he never encountered such problems in the 10 Asian universities he visited during a recent lecture tour.

"Some of these universities have poorer infrastructures but their computer systems are very good," he added.

Official statement

Another senior academic staff, political science lecturer Prof Francis Loh Kok Wah said the university has not issued an official statement on when the system will be up again.

"There is no transparency. Some one must take the responsibility..it's unbecoming of a university which aspires to be a world-class university," he said, adding that the failure had slowed his work.

Also seeing red was a postgraduate student, who declined to be named.

"I have to get journals, academic research reports from the electronic database. Some of them you can only get in the university's system. So how am I going to carry out my research?

"There are at least 4,000 to 5,000 research students in USM. My friends and I are very angry. We have to go to cybercafes everyday. I have spent more than RM100 this month in cyber cafes," he said.

'Trying our best'

USM Centre for Knowledge, Communication & Technology chief information officer Prof Ahmad Yussof Hassan said the disruptions were caused by switching from Internet service provider Jaring to TMnet as well as virus attacks.

"I must admit that we don't have proper tools to analyse when the system will be up. Sometimes when new viruses come, we don't know where is the source. But we are trying our best," he added.

As for virus attacks, he said computer users have to be equally responsible for the failure of the system.

Those who make noise about the disruptions, he added, were also the source of the problem.

He also refuted claims that the centre had kept its staff and students in the dark over the matter.

"I told my staff to at least inform all heads of departments. But sometimes some heads are not in. It might be a communication problem now as the email system is down. We are not able to tell everyone," he explained.