Scholarship solution – More professional courses in local varsities for top scorers
By Sharanjit Singh, NST
GEORGE TOWN: A new policy will be introduced to resolve the issue of top scorers not being awarded Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships to pursue their studies abroad.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said under the policy, more professional courses would be introduced in local universities so that top scorers could study in the country instead.
“It will be good to keep talented students in the country. Our universities are good enough, they are comparable to foreign universities and they can offer courses that we need, including medicine.
“This way the government will be able to award more scholarships to them to study locally,” he said when commenting on the discontent in various quarters, including Barisan Nasional members MCA, MIC and Gerakan over the matter.
The PSD has come under fire from politicians and parents over the awarding of its scholarships to Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia top scorers with many claiming some deserving students had been left out.
There were also students who claimed they were awarded diploma and matriculation programmes, instead of degree programmes, for courses they did not apply. Muhyiddin, who is education minister, said sponsoring students abroad was also getting costlier, and by having more courses in local universities, more students could be persuaded to study locally.
On why this problem (of some top scorers not awarded scholarships) occurred yearly, Muhyiddin said this was not so.
“It is not a year in, year out problem. Last year there was no problem (but) this year there seems to be some misunderstanding.” Muhyiddin said the matter should not be blown out of proportion as only 59 top scorers who were offered scholarships did not get to study abroad, but were offered places in local universities.
He added that the government hoped to clear the air on the matter in the next few days.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had on Friday said although the government promised that top scorers were eligible for scholarships, not all would get to study overseas.
“This is what people sometimes don’t understand,” he had said.
Najib had given an assurance that the government would continue to finance students who were offered scholarships to do diploma courses at local universities until the degree level and, likewise, for those who were offered matriculation courses.
This year, a total of 4,000 scholarships were offered, including 1,500 for overseas degree programmes (PILN). A total of 8,857 of the 16,900 applicants met the minimum academic requirements needed to be eligible for PILN.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, the minister in charge of PSD, who was directed to resolve the matter, will chair a meeting with the department tomorrow.
Last year, Nazri had said the 1,500 PSD scholarships for PILN would be phased out from this year. This was aimed at increasing the number of scholarships for those studying at local universities and to address complaints that there were not enough scholarships for SPM top scorers.
He also said it was impossible to increase the number of scholarships because “we don’t have enough money for that whenwe also need money to focus on other areas”.
