We profiled the 2006 AMCHAM-MACEE Scholarship here earlier this year, five months before the 30th May 2006 deadline. It’s now August, and a winner has been picked among an “extremely competitive” list of applicants. She is Ong Sue Ling from Klang, and she will be pursuing a degree in Health Sciences at Portland State University in Oregon.

For those out of the loop, this scholarship is awarded annually to help one student attend undegraduate studies at a US university. It is valued at US$20,000 (around RM74,000) for the entire four years of study there.

For more information, visit the AMCHAM-MACEE website.

[News via The Star Online]

It is surprising that while so many Asian countries are part of the Commonwealth, so few students recognise the various scholarship and fellowship opportunities available to them as a result of their country’s membership.

Of course, most of the most lucrative scholarships, i.e. undergraduate scholarship to the United Kingdom, are provided only to citizens of underdeveloped countries (e.g. Maldives and Falkland Islands). But there are still tons of opportunities left for students from developing (but not underdeveloped) countries, e.g. Malaysia - especially for postgraduate courses or undergrad ones at non-UK members.

For a whole list of such opportunities, check out the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan’s website. But first, I suggest you take a look at this article. It provides a comprehensive picture of what the Commonwealth offers - especially in the fields of professional development and learning opportunities.

While most private colleges in Malaysia put overseas-based and twinning programmes at the forefront of their marketing strategy, Institute Perkim-Goon (IPG) - the largest business college in Penang - has revealed that its primary focus is on its local programmes.

According to the insititute’s officials, this is grounded on their belief that local programmes are better tailored for Malaysia’s job market. While this is a reasonable line of thought, I don’t completely agree that it’s true. Nevertheless, I have to admit that their local programmes (which BTW are affiliated to the University College of Technology and Management Malaysia) are working out just fine for them - based on what some students have told me, that is.

Anyway, if you’re interested in finishing your tertiary education at IPG, give their website a look. They have a bunch of scholarships as well, though most of them seem to be distributed by The Star Education Fund.

[News via The Star Online]

If you happened to read the Star Malaysia newspaper on Saturday, you would have spotted an article on Natasha Capol, namesake of the Natasha jewellery collection, and aspiring actress under Singapore’s LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts Bachelors of Arts in Acting degree programme.

Running over to the LASALLE-SIA site wouldn’t have told you much about the programme, but Natasha Capol certainly gave us a few clues as to how tough the programme actually is. Apparently, when she started, there were 12 in the programme. A year after, and there’s only 9 left. One wonders how many will survive the rigourous training at the end of the course in 2008.

If, however, you still happen to be interested, visit the college’s website for more details (including the application form). And if you’re aiming for a scholarship from the college, here’s the appropriate page to visit.

It was announced recently that the FireFly agencies (mostly agencies under the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore) awarded some 40 scholarships this year - double that of last year’s numbers (though certainly not near peak values of some years).

This is probably due to the higher number of students willing to take up their studies in non-English speaking countries, e.g. France, Germany, etc. - often a rarity due to difficult foreign languages and the loss of opportunity to study at the world’s best universities (most are in the US or UK). This year, around a quarter of the scholarship recepients chose to study in such countries.

Good? Probably for all parties actually. Not only will Singapore gain first-class ambassadors to non-English speaking countries - which in recent years have become key markets for Singapore - but it will also save on the massive cost US and UK scholarships normally involve. On the part of the scholars, they’ll gain exposure to a very different environment, gaining the sort of experience that few top students gain and thus, differentiating themselves from the rest.

[News via Channel NewsAsia]

After so much fuss over the lack of a JPA-class (think open to all Malaysians) scholarship for postgraduate education and the recent launch of a PhD scholarship programme for public university lecturers, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the Malaysian Government has decided to introduce the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Scholarship (a.k.a. King’s Scholarship) for those who want to pursue their Masters or PhD - regardless of their profession.

10 scholarships of this kind will be offered, with 5 for Masters courses and the other 5 for PhD courses. Surprisingly, the Government has decided to follow Singapore’s example and bond the scholarship’s recepients to work in Malaysia, but not in any particular company or government body (Singapore’s ASEAN Undergraduate Scholarship imposes the same requirement) - which is, of course, a good thing for the scholars involved.

One clear prerequisite of this scholarship is that you can’t be older than 30 years old when you apply. And as usual, undergraduate-level academic results will be a key determinant.

[News via Bernama]

Wow. I’ve no right to question the reasoning behind Ms. Lin’s decision to reject a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - one of the top, if not the top engineering university in the world - scholarship to teach physics and maths in a secondary school, but I’d like to raise a few points for those who might consider a similar move in the future.

IMHO, unless the scholarship given was not a full one, there’s really little reason why one could not have finished one’s Master’s degree first before returning to teach. There are few disadvantages, and an exceedingly large number of advantages from doing so. Besides attaining valuable academic knowledge, one would gain first-hand experience as to how the best professors teach.

Let’s also not forget that a quality Master’s would allow you to go further in your teaching career. As most Singaporean students - especially Junior College students - would have noticed, it is not surprising to see Singaporean teachers holding Master’s degrees from top universities (including Harvard BTW). Competition for teaching positions at the best schools can thus be pretty tough.

Of course, my points so far have been rather uhmmm… materialistic in nature. You might argue that if one loves teaching enough, why wait any longer? Indeed, a Master’s degree isn’t a prerequisite to teach, even at the Junior College level. I can’t really argue with this, but if you are thinking that your passion for teaching might waver after completing a Master’s in the US of A (imagine the career opportunities available after an MIT Master’s), then you probably aren’t as passionate about teaching as you think you are. Those really passionate about doing their best (at anything at all, including teaching) can surely wait until they get their foundations perfect (this is highly subjective, of course).

Well, that’s my 2 cents at least. Hopefully, it was more enlightening than offensive.

If you are an Asian who wants to pursue graduate studies in Public Policy or Public Administration, look nowhere else but the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Why? Because even you’d be surprised at the number of full scholarships available for both courses at NUS.

There are three scholarships available for ASEAN, China and India nationals, one exclusively for those from the US or China, one for those from Maldives, and one umbrella scholarship for Singaporeans. In most areas, all of these scholarships are equal.

So, it’s actually pretty easy to detail the scholarships: Value-wise, we’re looking at a monthly stipend of S$1,350 throughout the period of the award (which is generous if you’re single), a S$500 book stipend, a S$500 settling-in allowance, full waiver of tuition, examination and health insurance fees, plus a return airflight (or equivalent).

If a recent news release is correct, each scholarship is worth around US$40,000 each - something you really don’t want to miss out on if you’re interested in the courses offered.

For more information (including the academic requirements and application form), check out NUS’ web pages for the public administration programme and public policy programme.