By Lydia Gomez

SERDANG, MALAYSIA: Parents of medical students studying at Universitas Andalas in Padang are unhappy over the offer made by the Higher Education Department to their children.

The students can choose to either return to the university to complete their studies or forfeit the paid fees and continue their studies at a local private institution here, but incurring a higher cost.

Students who want to continue their studies here can apply for study loans under the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) but the amount is not enough to cover the cost.

Fifth-year student Wan Muhd Fadli Wan Abdul Rahman, 22, said he was left with no choice but to go back to Padang.

"When I came here, I thought the department was planning to place us in any of the universities here. But they left it to us to choose and the fees are too high here. There is nothing I can do but go back," he said at the department's briefing for parents and students at Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Fadli said although he was now in his clinical years of study, he still needed to sit for exams.

Yesterday, the department's director-general, Prof Datuk Radin Umar Radin Sohadi, said students in their fourth to sixth year could return to Padang and pursue internships at any of the 19 hospitals recognised by the university as their tuition fees were almost completely paid up.

"This is a more reasonable solution. There are good places to get experience there and we will help them get placements."

He said Malaysian Medical Council's assessments showed that it would be a "golden opportunity for medical students to get hands-on experience in the real world" during their stints in the Indonesian hospitals which are treating earthquake victims.

He said students could also switch to any of the nine accredited Indonesian universities, but he could not guarantee a place for them there.

"The credit transfers and fee payments depend on the university itself. We can facilitate to see if there are places in other universities."

Parent K. Anbalakan said he decided that his daughter should return to Padang as the fees in Malaysia were too high. He also said the systems in private colleges and universities here were different from Indonesia.

"It is too expensive here. We chose Indonesia because it was more affordable. The solutions offered are not practical," he said.