Kelantan to identify students in Egypt facing massive debt

The Kelantan state government will be identifying Malaysian students in Egyptian universities facing financial troubles.

With the saga of Malaysian students in Egypt facing financial trouble continuing, Kelantan has decided to step in to assess the problem and identify possible solutions.

Datuk Dr Mohamed Fadzli Hassan, the chair of State Human Resource, Education and Higher Education committee has clarified that many of these students who are facing problems aren't government sponsored and are pursuing their studies in Egypt through unauthorised agents.

According to Fadzli, some of these agents offer students places to study in Egypt under questionable loans that would eventually put students and their families in dire straits. The government had advised parents who wish to send their kids to study in Egypt against the use of such agents due to the high risk and no guarantees to students and their families.

A Malaysian student who has asked to remain anonymous, says she went to Egypt through one of these agents to pursue a medical degree. When she arrived in Egypt, she attended regular classes with other students but was later denied entry into exam halls because the agent didn't officially register her as students of the university.

The student's parents investigated and confronted the agent, and she was withdrawn from the programme , and is back studying in Malaysia.

Other parents have decided to go down a different path, finding ways to make sure that their children become official students in Egypt because they have already spent a significant amount of money on education.

Reports last week claim that students in 8 universities in Egypt might dropout due to accumulating debt in form of unpaid tuition fees that has been estimated at RM4.5 million. This debt involved students studying medical science and pharmacy.

Additionally, it was reported by Al-Fanar Media, an Arabic media organisation specialised in covering matters of education, that Egyptian universities are increasing their tuition fees in unregulated ways as the decision to increase the fees is left in the hand of universities.