NIBONG TEBAL: Despite getting hundreds of millions in grants from the Government, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has not been able to live up to its Apex (Accelerated Programme for Excellence) status.
Its three-year-old research centre here, a project that cost RM21mil, is barely being utilised because of its limited facilities.

A stone’s throw away is another research centre, costing RM14mil, that was supposed to have been ready in August but construction stalled for two years and a new developer only took over late last year.

These and other issues have shamed the university which was granted Apex status by the Cabinet in August 2008, which meant increased funding to help it transform into a world-class university, the nation’s first.

The issues include a spike in fees for use of the research centre by postgraduate students, a drastic reduction in fellowships to postgraduates, termination of foreign lecturer contracts and cuts in research grants.

For the fiscal years 2009 to 2012, USM was given a RM314.5mil grant by the Government but has not been able to meet its Apex expectations.

In its defence, USM claimed that it only received less than half of the funding that it requested.

It has not divulged how it spent the remainder of the grant.

Empty spaces: The centre is underutilised due to lack of facilities.

Construction of USM’s Science and Engineering Research Centre (SERC) was completed in December 2011 and it began operations about a year ago.

But several USM students said they had been using the centre for anything but research.

“I only used to go into the laboratory to enjoy the air-conditioning,” said a postgraduate student who asked to be identified as Chung, 29.

“It is called a research centre, but there is just empty space here and not much facilities.”

According to him, some equipment was brought into the laboratories but only recently.

Afiq, a final-year aerospace engineering student who also asked for anonymity, agreed with Chung.

He said many students at the university thought the other research centre had been abandoned since the SERC was left incomplete.

“These are meant to be high-impact research laboratories but the (state of the) buildings do not seem convincing,” Afiq said.

The students, he said, had discussed the matter on the campus Facebook page.

A check by The Star showed that the previous developer of the second research centre was not registered with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB).

Also, it had vacated its office at the campus and still owed four months’ rent for the space to the university.

“We don’t have anything to do with USM any more. The project was downgraded from Class A to a lower class,” a representative of the previous developer told The Star.

(Class A projects have no contract limit while Class B contracts have to be worth between RM5mil and RM10mil.)

SERC senior scientific officer Hariy Pauzi said the research centre was fully functional and self-sustaining.

She said it took time to start operations due to funding matters and the procurement process.

With a year of starting operations, she said, the centre secured a contract, with another in the pipeline.

She said it also had a microscope that went beyond the nano-scale – the only one in South-East Asia – and two other high-end instruments, altogether worth about RM14mil.

“We are starting to generate income … about a few hundred thousand ringgit last year, we just need to wait for funding to buy more equipment,” Hariy said.

SERC has 32 laboratories and a staff of 15. It charged postgraduate students, who pay from their research grants, and industries to use the facilities.

On the second research centre project, dean of the civil engineering school Prof Dr Ahmad Farhan Mohd Sadullah said the original developer was sacked because the firm did not complete the job.

He said he did not know that the contractor was not registered with the CIDB.

A USM representative, who declined to be quoted, insisted that it was a Class A project and that RM14mil had been spent on the construction so far.

However, The Star found out that the current developer was only a Class B contractor registered with the CIDB.