UCSI University — Attraction in Kuala Lumpur

Just sharing some of my experience and things observed regarding this uni.

My enrollment in this uni is around a year and a half.

Positive changes:

The way fees statements and official receipt and official receipt were displayed on IISV portal. There was a shift from initial display of fees etc in table form (which somehow made things complicated) to the now form which makes things easier to read.

Upgrade in terms of toilet I noticed that there was upgrade of the female toilets in Block C, level 4 in early December 2024. Also, I noticed during that period, the roads in UCSI was newly tarred.

Positive things observed:

1. Lecturers who had taught me are responsible (Not to say that other lecturers are not responsible).

They made sure that we have the support needed in terms of resources like the academic calendar, orientation slides etc.

Some made sure that we got our attendance sorted in the case that we truly attended the classes, but IISV showed us as absent.

There were around 4 cases regarding this, Attendance issue that arises due to IISV portal error which happened at the beginning of last year (Jan 2024) - happened to two MPU subjects taken that semester

Attendance error that arises due to public holiday and we have no class on that day. This happened to one core subject and a MPU subject.

To conclude, all lecturers resolved the issue.

They made sure all of us signed the attendance sheet in the case of physical class. To the measure of calling the names of students, to make sure that those who came for class did sign their attendance.

Lecturers also did provide us the lecture materials and assessment rubrics, and did let us know the assignment requirements.

Lecturers also did reply to students' queries. Just be mindful to not message lecturers at midnight and weekends or any other time they won't be online.

Some lecturers will on the settings for exams done online so that students can view and download the file to see which questions done incorrectly and what's the correct answers. Some said they on the settings of quiz set online so that the questions asked will appear in a different sequence among students, which to some extent, reduces cheating.

2. Responsible, helpful staff I did email to the Registrar Office, Finance Department, CSD department for queries and for assistance. And, they did reply (and helped).

Some lecturers will express disapproval if student didn't dress according to uni's dress code like wearing sandals or shorts to lab. Some will send the relevant info to class group so that students will be aware of this.

3. Exams To some extent strict but it's for our benefit. In regards to skill assessment, invigilators definitely will properly assess your skills and will penalize you if you don't follow the procedures. Finals in the examination hall, some invigilators will ask you to remove your jacket and shake it and roll up your sleeves if it's long sleeves. Some invigilators will express disapproval if students open the question paper to look at before the examination starts.

4. ELE points/ participate in research

There were different events offering ELE points. Different events can enhance the participants' understanding about the topics. For example, the online talk about E-sports, Healing Your Inner Child, which educates and enlightens the participants about the topic shared.

*UCSI students are required to gain 100 ELE points per ELE. The 3 ELEs must be completed, if not the student can't graduate.

Through participating in other UCSI students' research, especially some of the final year students' research. Roughly can know what elements to include in online survey/questionnaire which may come handy when completing some of the MPU subjects and in final year thesis (if the course you take requires you to write thesis).

Downside Some events offering ELE points were a "scam". Some of these weren't organised by clubs in UCSI. The ELE reports didn't appear means we can't submit the report in order to get it approved to...

I would like to express my frustration with the parking system at UCSI. I simply wanted to drop off my kids for a debate event, and it took me over 40 minutes to finally exit the school compound.

The cashless parking system requires registration on the UCSI Pay app, which involves an eKYC process including sensitive bank account information.

Although the first 15 minutes are supposed to be free, you must enter and exit through the same gate. With three entrance/exit points, how is someone using navigation apps supposed to know which one to use? Additionally, how can we even know how many exits there are?

After attempting to exit through two gates, I was told at both exits that I couldn’t leave due to "unpaid" parking. The guard explained that I had to exit through the same gate I entered, but there was no clear signage to indicate this. Frustrated, I decided to look for an autopay machine.

At the autopay machine in Block C, I was informed that the fee was RM1 on my first attempt. However, when I returned to the kiosk, the fee had increased to RM3. I inserted a RM10 note, but I found that no change was given. I was told that I would need to claim my change within 24 hours, but there was no information provided on where to do that.

At the kiosk, there was no staff available, and the intercom didn’t work. I approached a nearby guard, who informed me to claim my change at Block A.

Upon arriving at Block A, I found no one available to assist at either the entrance or ground floor. Fortunately, a passing staff member helped me reach the accounts department on the first floor. However, at 10:30 AM on a Saturday during convocation day, there was still no one at the counter to assist. I tried calling the extension, but no one answered, and the intercom was unresponsive.

Ultimately, the helpful staff member who guided me managed to call someone behind the glass to finally retrieve my RM7 change.

This was a thoroughly frustrating experience for what should be a public-accessible place. I hope the parking system can be improved to better...

Poor administrative and academic services. No formal and helpful attitude of administrative staffs and faculties are not compassionate with students. Teachers do follow their own preference rules while grading. To me I feel like always I am isolated among others.

Visa processing unit behaves harshly and misguide students. Specially Ms Zaliha she will treat you with her bossy attitude. You aren't allowed to ask any questions she can scold you with loud words. Other officers sitting there including (Ms Rita Ms Saori) in VPU noone has proper knowledge about documentation. They hassled me so much for my dependent pass application. However they even don't know that for dependent application the dependent needs to have a sticker single entry visa and my application is denied due to this my money and time both is wasted. So you have to run inside a maze while you will be dealing with them. Employer needs to groom it's employees on professional manner and how to talk with post graduate students.

I also felt like there's a big communication gap within student and university. Since when I started studying here I saw no university administrative personnel seriously deals with phone calls and emails enquiries.

Proper guidance is missing for PhD or DBA students. Only students with scholarships get the priority. Students are highly disappointed with university teaching experience.

Library is not much resourcefull. Lack of space for research related students work is also seen.

Poor looking campus it looks very commercial.

My overall experience from this university is I made a wrong decision to come here but I am badly trapped now. I feel like university seems like a money eater rather than a education server. This is for sure I am not going to recommend this university to anyone...