By Jasmin Raihanah and Hakim Mahari
GOMBAK, 28 December 2022: The Mahallah Representative Coordination Council (MRCC) of IIUM led the way in kick-starting the first annual National Residential Colleges Conference in an effort to discuss students’ concerns at the national level.
The national conference was initiated and hosted for the first time in the IIUM Gombak campus from 16 December to 18 December 2022, gathering 18 public universities from Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
Speaking to IIUMToday at the conference, the Program Manager and former President of Mahallah Ali, Amaly Syahmie Bin Rosdi, said the idea behind this conference was proposed by a former IIUM principal as there were loopholes regarding the residential college in Malaysia.
“This conference will serve as a platform for all university student representatives who share the same interests, objectives and goals in striving for the better management of student welfare at the residential college.”
“There is no such council on residential college at the national level, unlike Majlis Perundingan Pelajar Kebangsaan (MPKK) who gathered all student representatives and student unions at the national level,” he said.
Amaly Syahmie also highlighted that there was a need for this conference establishment to accommodate the needs of students by proposing our ideas and suggestions directly to the Malaysian University Housing Council or Majlis Perumahan Universiti Malaysia (MAPUM) and Higher Education Ministry (MOHE).
“We take care of students’ needs and welfare. I believe that it is a need to bring the voices of the students from our own community as we know more and what to propose,” he added.
In the three day and two-night conference, there were four motions discussed and presented by the representatives of each university as seen below:
- The ceiling price of food (USIM, USM AND UPSI).
- Living off campus (UPNM, UMK, UMT, and UTEM).
- Merit requirements for students staying in the university hostel (UM, UiTM).
- Establishment of the council of student residential representatives at the national level (IIUM).
The President of Mahallah Aminah and committee member of the conference, Izyan Musfirah Binti Mohd Razif, emphasised that the conference will create a beneficial platform to ease the student representatives to discuss future collaborations or related issues.
Echoed by the representative from Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTEM), Ho Jia Xian, noted that this was a good opportunity to present the motions and discuss ideas with each other.
University Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) is expected to be the next host for the second conference next year.
Participants of the conference were Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK), Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), and Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UNIMAP).
Representativess from Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Universiti Teknologi Mara (UITM), Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTEM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) and Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) were also present. ***