The university will be sending the students back to their hometowns across the peninsula, with eight buses on standby tomorrow. A total of 3,760 students had earlier registered to go home but about 1,000 changed their minds and decided to stay put.

The students in the main campus in Gelugor here, and other campuses in Bertam, Nibong Tebal and Kubang Kerian in Kelantan are being ferried home in USM’s own buses and chartered ones. The students will have to pay for the journey. However, some will be fetched by their parents or will use their own transport.

The Terengganu state government is also sending two buses on Sunday to take students back to that state, for free.

A spokesman said the campus was working in hand with students’ associations to send the students back to their respective hometowns. Flights are also being arranged for those heading back to Sabah. The government has decided to not allow students to head back to Sarawak. No reasons were given.

Students nationwide are allowed to travel home from today to May 12 and return to campus from May 15 to 20. This will be carried out in stages to control their movement, it was reported.

The students will only be allowed to use their own vehicles, be driven by their parents or use buses arranged by their universities.

Some 103,994 students who are on campuses around the country are expected to be involved in the balik kampung journey, the higher education ministry said on April 29.

Meanwhile, in Skudai, Johor, Kosmo reported the first batch of 2,073 Universiti Teknologi Malaysia students returned home today. In Bachok, Kelantan, a total of 1,282 students will leave their campus in two phases for the festivities.

At Universiti Putra Malaysia in Serdang, some 6,000 students are going home while 16,000 will be allowed to go home from 30 Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) campuses around the country.