Elation turns to frustration during chaotic USM placements



There were tears of anger and frustration from hundreds of “successful” applicants to the country’s Apex university today when they were told there were no places for them. The students, many from other states, had turned up at Universiti Sains Malaysia in the morning after learning about “problems” with their acceptance.
USM immediately issued an apology over the “technical error” but that did not soothe the anger or the chaotic situation at the university.

An angry parent even called for an investigation by the Ministry of Higher Education, while many “successful” students were worried that USM’s error could jeopardise their chances of getting a place in other universities.

This is the first year that USM is conducting its own intake of undergraduates, in line with its status as an Apex university with the freedom to choose only the best students. The intake for other universities is handled by the University Admission Unit.

USM acting vice-chancellor Prof Ahmad Shukri Mustapa Kamal said the university had wrongly uploaded the names of all applicants on its website as successful candidates.
“There were only 3,599 successful applicants but the names of all 8,173 were uploaded,” he said.

He said the 8,173 students were pre-qualified to enter the university from a total of 22,000 applicants.

“They met the minimum criteria but after the final selection, only 3,599 were selected. The remaining names will be submitted to the University Admission Unit for selection into other universities,” he said.

Ahmad Shukri said USM only realised the mistake on Saturday, some 24 hours after the names of the 8,000-odd students were put up on the website on Friday.