PETALING JAYA: Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) has denied a PhD graduate’s claim that their programme is not accredited.
It said the scroll received by the graduate is written as Doctor of Philosophy only, dated April 9,2020, which is not a PhD in Mass Communication as alleged.
“The Doctor of Philosophy programme is a programme that has been fully accredited with code MQA/SWA/0399.
“UPM has conducted an accreditation process for all our Master of Science and PhD programmes.
“We obtained full accreditation approval by the UPM Senate on Dec 12,2013, for all fields of study, was awarded self-accreditation status by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) in 2010, and have been given autonomous status to implement the accreditation process on all academic programmes offered at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, ” the varsity said on Thursday.
The varsity was responding to a report in a news portal alleging that its PhD is not recognised.
A letter by the graduate from Palestine stated that he was informed his PhD in Mass Communication from the varsity was not accredited by the government when he applied for a visa to get a one-year orientation in the Netherlands.
Saed Jnaidi said he holds a residence permit in the Netherlands and that he is allowed to work and stay without restrictions.
“But I’ve missed this very important opportunity because of accreditation failure on the part of UPM.
“I have contacted the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) to inquire about this matter and I have been informed that the PhD programme of Study in Mass Communication, which I attended for about five years, has not been formally registered (with) the MQA.
“This disappointed me greatly especially considering that I have graduated from UPM for almost two years now, ” he added in the letter dated May 22.
In clarifying the allegation that the UPM Quality Assurance Centre had not sent a list of programmes to MQA for registration, the university said the list to be sent was for the registration of new Master’s and PhD programmes according to the National Education Code.
