Three days ago, there was a post on how the Government should setup a PhD scholarship scheme for public university (IPTA) lecturers of all races. Today, the Government announces that such a scheme, valued at RM1.2 billion, would be implemented under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP).

This is either prescience, or… sheer forgetfulness. But whatever it is, an allocation of 6,700 PhD scholarships is definitely a Good Thing. Of that amount, 35% are for local studies, 5% for overseas studies, and the remainder for split (a.k.a. twinning) programmes - where the first two years would be done locally, and the last year abroad.

At least now, we can no longer say that University Malaya’s new academic staff policy is biased, though undergraduate students will still be dissatisfied that the Government does not provide non-teaching postgraduate scholarships.

Late last month, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that it was allocating S$30 million over the next 5 years on a Finance Sector Development Fund (FSDF). And a large portion of this budget is to be disbursed through the Finance Scholarship Programme (FSP) - a postgraduate scholarship scheme for targeted fields including actuarial science, quantitative finance, risk management and financial engineering.

While details about the terms and conditions of the scholarship have not been revealed (through the press release or MAS’ website), we do have some general information about the FSP. For one, the FSP is co-sponsored by Singapore-based financial institutions (such as DBS Bank, Credit Suisse and Barclays Capital), and recepients of the scholarship will thus have to return to serve these institutions upon completion of their studies.

Secondly, a total of around 150 scholarships will be awarded over the next 5 years - implying a reasonable average of around 30 per annum. Last but not least, those applying for the FSP have to be good enough to get a place in the best finance-based universities in the world, e.g. Columbia University, London School of Economics, etc.

If you’re interested, you’ll have to contact MAS directly for application details, or wait for further information to be released on MAS’ website.

[News via ChannelNewsAsia]

Every year, International School Kuala Lumpur (ISKL) - one of Malaysia’s most prestigious international schools (few as they are) - awards two scholarships for post-SPM students to pursue the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme.

Each award is worth more than RM50,000 per year, and covers tuition and examination fees over at ISKL. Without doubt, these are valuable scholarships since even A-Level courses over at Taylor’s College or Sunway University College cost only around a quarter the amount.

Anyway, this year’s winners are Krystie Wong Kai Li from KL and Le Jia Hui from Kajang - both exemplifying the IB spirit of all-roundedness (the IB programme itself has been praised as a more all-rounded pre-university programme if compared to the A-Levels or STPM).

So, if you’re interested in ISKL’s IB scholarships, I suggest looking around ISKL’s website for some contact information rather than application forms or further details because you won’t find any!

According to a recent news release, the Singapore Defence Science and Technology Agency awarded 41 undergraduate scholarshps this year for courses in science and technology (duh…).

While it was not clear whether the 41 awards consisted of only overseas scholarships or a combination of both local and overseas ones, based on the terms of the scholarship scheme, the awards should have consisted of both.

More relevant to current Junior College (JC) students perhaps is the fact that a new selection process was unveiled this year - in addition to the pretty much standard series of interviews. But you probably already knew that.

However, if you didn’t, or have little idea about the DSTA Undergraduate Scholarships in the first place, you might want to check out DSTA’s website.

[News via ChannelNewsAsia]

In line with the Government’s aim of getting two of Malaysia’s public universities into the world’s Top 50, University Malaya (Malaysia’s highest ranked IPTA) has begun implementation of a new academic staff policy.

This policy requires those who apply for permanent academic staff positions in the university to have PhD degrees, and on the outset, this looks like an excellent move to upgrade UM’s (degrading) academic quality. However, a concerned reader over at Malaysiakini has pointed out (rightly) that this policy isn’t completely impartial - racial-wise, that is - given the fact that bumiputera candidates are eligible for the Skim Latihan Akademik Bumiputera (SLAB) which provides them scholarships to study for their PhDs overseas.

It shouldn’t need to be stated that non-bumiputera candidates are not provided a similar facility, and thus face a substantial disadvantage.

So, what should be done here? It’s clear that UM’s new policy is a Good Thing, so scrapping it is a no-go. The best way to go, therefore, is to provide an equivalent of the SLAB to non-bumiputeras. And considering the fact that the Government is already being criticised for its lack of support for postgraduate education, it could kill two birds with one stone by providing postgraduate scholarships in a broader scope - similar to how it provides undergrad scholarships through the Public Services Department (JPA).

Some might ask: Where’s the money going to come from? As I argued before, decrease undergrad scholarships and channel the money for postgraduate education. This way, Malaysia is assured of choosing the best and brightest - not just students who’ve “crammed their way to success” (or so they say).

Every miniority-race political party in Malaysia wants to stress how much they have done in helping their constituents secure tertiary education. Just like how MIC stressed that they would monitor all JPA scholarship and IPTA (public university) applications by Indians earlier this year, MCA recently announced that they have assisted around 1500 Chinese students in attaining Public Services Department (JPA) scholarships over the past 5 years.

I’m not completely sure, but these 1,500 scholarships should include awards both before and after appeals, since based on this year’s figures - where MCA helped students get 110 extra scholarships above the allocated 300 - it would be rather impossible to touch 1,500 unless this was so.

More relevant to students today, however, would be MCA’s reiteration that competition for JPA scholarships is increasing, and that Chinese students should begin to adapt to this. Undoubtedly, this can be taken as advice to consider alternative means of attaining tertiary education, e.g. private colleges, public universities, if one fails to get a JPA scholarship.

Besides this… well, there’s really nothing else in the announcement you’d be interested in.

[News via The Star Online]

A week or so back, it was annouced that Curtin University of Technology Sarawak would be offering five scholarships for PhD study (by research) at its School of Engineering.

Along with that announcement were several important points. One: Scholarships would be provided for all areas of engineering, but greater priority would given to applications for Advanced Manufacturing and Materials, Biotechnology, as well as Information and Communication Technology.

Two: Students of all nationalities can apply for the scholarship, but Malaysians would be prioritised. Three: Students would be supervised by tutors from both Curtin Sarawak and Curtin Australia - which, of course, is a good thing since you’ll get to tap the experience from both Australian and Malaysian tutors.

But if you want more information, e.g. value of the award, you’ll have to send them an e-mail or give them a call, because the site they’ve given has yet to be updated with the details of these scholarships.

[News via The Star Online]

The lack of places in Malaysian public universities to read medicine still remains a problem - even as 15 more places have been offered this year. While these additional 15 places bring the total number of places offered to 925, it is certain that many a student will have to resort to private (e.g. IMU) and overseas universities.

The question is: How many students will have to take that path? No figures on this have been released by the Higher Education Ministry - with only repeated statements that a CGPA of 4.0 no longer guarantees a place to read medicine given the introduction of co-curricular involvement as a criterion for varsity intake.

Well, this just means that the HQs of the various political parties will have some “extra” work to do, more academically strong students will have to abandon their dream of becoming doctors, and Malaysia’s doctor to patient ratio will remain unsatisfactory, right?