In Kepala Batas, some students said things were proceeding as usual, and AUCMS had informed its students of its current financial status.

A medical student, who declined to be named, said he had read a letter signed by AUCMS president Datuk Dr Zainuddin Wazir to clear the air over the college’s financial status on the Facebook page of his batch.

“However, I cannot recall the details,” he said.

The 22-year-old said, meanwhile, lectures continued as usual.

“The college managed to get replacements whenever our lecturers left. Everything looks fine for the time being,” he said when met at the campus yesterday.

Dr Zainuddin could not be reached for comments.

Another student lamented that Internet services at the campus and the dormitory building outside the campus had been cut off two weeks ago.

“Luckily, there are cybercafes near my dormitory. I hope things will get better,” said the first-year pharmacy student.

Acting deputy vice-chancellor Dr Badrul Akmal Hisham Mohd Yusoff had reportedly acknowledged that AUCMS had financial issues but that the situation would improve “very, very soon”.

A lecturer met at the campus said almost half of the 50 lecturers from the medical faculty had left the college since last November.

He claimed that those with “high salaries” had not been paid since December.

“Most of them have joined a university college in Kedah. Some expatriates have opted for unpaid leave.

“I do not know how long we can last by staying on.

“Many among us have not paid our car and housing loan instalments for a few months,” said the lecturer who had been teaching at AUCMS for three years.

A front-office worker, who declined to be named, said the staff had been kept abreast of the latest developments by their employer.

AUCMS has about 2,000 students and 500 staff members.

He appealed to the Prime Minister and agencies such as ARB, Exim Bank, SmeBank , MARA, JPA and the Ministry of Education to assist in its to rebuild its status as an institute of higher learning by injecting short term funds to help them recover from their financial woes.

“This experience will reinforce the commitment of the administration to improve and plan strategies for the benefit of the students,” he added.

AUCMS was established in 2002 with its main campus in Kepala Batas, Penang, as well as other campuses in Kangar, Kulim dan Taiping. It has more than 500 staff (academic and non-academic) with more than 2500 students.

AUCMS acquired the sprawling Trent Park Campus which housed a huge mansion and several other buildings including hostels and a library, with the aim of giving its students international exposure.

However, the university ran into financial troubles. Some 100 staff had made complaints of unpaid salaries and some had even spoken about having to resort to borrowing from loan sharks. Some lecturers were reported to have left, leaving the students in a lurch after they had not received payments.

Speaking about the vision to be a global player in the international education industry by purchasing the campus in the north of London, Zainuddin said, “The London campus was to be a stepping stone for AUCMS to expand to an international level. The purchase was facilitated by EXIM Bank Malaysia (EXIM) but we were given only a part of the total sum which was approved.

“The failure to get the full sum meant that the campus could not function as planned. However, the interest payment was still required although the purchased property could not be used as planned and could not generate income as expected. This has resulted in serious financial crisis for AUCMS”.

Zainuddin added that the cashflow problem had affected other payments and had complicated operations of the university.

He explained that AUCMS had secured an agreement with EXIM to give a period of 6 months beginning July this year to sell off the Trent Park campus to help solve the financial problems.

However, this has not been an easy process. Zainuddin himself has been in London to oversee the selling of the property while other senior officials of AUCMS are in charge of the daily operations of the university back home.

For the moment, however, there were issues where students have had to pay more and at the same time had missed their lessons. Zainuddin in the statement claimed that the original proposal that the government give a temporary financial air was not considered although it was felt that was the best solution for all concerned.