Apparently, scoring a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.0 for your STPM will no longer guarantee your entry into highly demanded courses in Malaysian public universities - not that it ever did anyway. But let’s disregard my “unjustified” comment and get back to the facts.

According to the Higher Education Ministry, university applications are now assessed on two criteria. One: Academic results, with a weightage of 90%. Two: Extra-curricular involvement, with a weightage of 10%. This means that even if you have a 4.0 CGPA but have zero co-curricular involvement marks, you’ll score a maximum of only 90% under this new system.

For the remaining 10 marks, your two highest scores from your extra-curricular activities will be added together - presumably with each activity contributing a maximum of 5 marks. Of course, National Service trainess will get preference with 6 marks instead - not that there is really any logical reason for this.

Overall, this just means that “meritocracy” is now defined a little more broadly than before, with both academic and co-curricular involvement being taken into account. This is definitely a good thing (in most cases), but whether it will be implemented correctly is another story altogether.

Only a couple of days back, it was announced that of the 74,967 Malaysian students who applied for entry into public universities, only 40,016 of them were provided places. Of course, not all of the 70+ thousand students qualified for entry, but the remaining 63,158 who did still means that more than 23,000 qualified students were denied entry.

Before we even consider the fact that many of those who were accepted were not even provided their first choice courses, just look at one key statistic: 36.6% of those who applied (and were qualified for entry) were rejected. Seen in another light, the number of students accepted could have been 57.8% greater than it is now.

So, where should these 23,000+ qualified students turn to for higher education? Private colleges and universities? Overseas universities? Night classes perhaps?

ZZZzzz… And to think that this sort of “competition” (for university places) isn’t even creating world-class universities (unlike in Singapore). At least if it was, the Government could offer the excuse that it was aiming for two of its universities to be ranked among the world’s top 50.

Recent change in the Malaysian government’s policy on international schools means that international schools can now look forward to local students entering their student bodies, as well as tax incentives.

For those who have no knowledge of our government’s prior policy on international school enrollment, Malaysian students were previously not allowed to enrol in international schools unless one parent was a foreigner or if the student had lived overseas for three or more years. Even after the policy change, there is still a 40 percent limit on local enrollment.

Besides being a rather nonsensical restriction on the freedom of parents to choose what sort of education they wish to provide their children, there are wider social and economic ramifications at stake. A recent article written by Bakri Musa argues that a “critical mass” of liberalised international schools can not only serve as excellent business investments (from affluent foreign students), but also social investments. Here, we are looking at international schools as a competitive force against our weak public schools - which could perhaps spur public schools to reform the same way our public universities are beginning to in the face of extensive private higher education.

Of course, one could point to the United States to buffet an argument against the liberalisation of private and international schools. Even with a substantially liberalised private (or rather, independent) school sector, American public schools have merely continued to deteriorate - plagued with all sorts of problems, ranging from allegations of entrenched constituencies and sheer corruption to weak syllabuses.

It should also be noted that entrance to Ivy League universities are dominated by students from independent schools, and interestingly, the same goes for the top UK universities - Cambridge and Oxford. This does show that if international schools are liberalised, and public schools fail to reform, seggregation could begin to extend between those capable of paying for international schools, and those who cannot. Of course, the various scholarships, whether from the government (e.g. JPA or MARA scholarships) or government-owned/related organisations (e.g. Petronas), could act as a mitigating factor since lower-income students do get some sort of advantage according to scholarship criteria.

So, should international schools, or more generally, independent schools be liberalised further? I’d like to say yes, even if just to adhere to laissez faire economics, but I do understand that there are many implications that must be studied before any decision is taken on this issue. I, therefore, believe that we should wait until the results from our budding reformation of public universities return before asking the government to look at this issue in further detail.

The Government of India, or more specifically, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA), recently introduced a set of 100 scholarships for Indians overseas to study in technical and non-technical tertiary institutes in India for 2006-2007. These scholarships would fall under a programme rather aptly named as the Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children.

Of course, this year’s application deadline passed a month back, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be preparing for next year’s applications - where the total number of scholarships awarded would have been increased.

Anyway, let’s get to the basics. The programme is open to nationals of 23 developing countries who are of Indian origin. The countries involved are Malaysia, Singapore, Bahrain, Fiji, Guyana, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Kuwait, Myanmar, Oman, Qatar, Reunion Island, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Surinam, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidada and Tobago, the UAE and Yemen.

The scholarship is valued at US$1,800 per year, and is valid for any course of study, bar medicine (and related courses), available at Indian higher education institutes partnered with Education Consultants India Ltd. (Ed. CIL) - a Government of India enterprise.

Application requirements include being aged 17 to 21 years old, and having passed senior secondary (or equivalent) education with a 6.75 CGPA (scale of 10). There is also a selection test held around early May covering English, reasoning and quantitative ability, as well as general knowledge.

So, if you happen to be interested, check out the Ed. CIL website for further details.

We actually featured one component, or rather, course of study sponsored by the Erasmus Mundus scholarships a while back, and most of the basics have already been covered in that blog post.

Here, we’d like to expand upon the narrow outlook we provided on the Erasmus Mundus Masters programme (and scholarships). Earlier, we saw how the programme sponsored students from around the world, especially from developing countries in Asia like Malaysia and India, the chance to study a Masters in Media and Journalism in three countries in Europe (two in the first year, and one out of two in the second).

But in fact, the programme covers 57 different courses, from the sciences in engineering and biology, to the social sciences in economics and law, as well as the humanities. This year, a total of 1,377 students around the world were awarded Erasmus Mundus International Scholarships. Malaysia got a total of 57 scholarships, while India got a whopping 319 scholarships. And to think that’s just two out of 92 different countries.

So, if you happen to be interested, check out the Erasmus Mundus web site for more details.

Oh yes, did I mention that the Erasmus Mundus scholarship is worth around €42,000 for the two years you’ll spend in Europe under the programme?

Well, that’s what the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) said to the Public Services Department (PSD) last saturday when faced with the disappointing results of the appeals stage of the JPA scholarship selections.

It seems that only five out of 143 appealing students in the state were provided JPA scholarships after their appeals. And 64 out of these 143 students actually scored straight A1s.

As a result, the SUPP is questioning whether PSD is actually adhering to the selection criteria they announced earlier, because if it was, there should not be this many top scorers not getting JPA scholarships. After all, according to the Public Services Department, weightage of academic merit stands at 65% this year.

Personally, I support the pleas of SUPP politicians. It is high time the PSD actually published the names and academic results of the students that do get JPA scholarships. It’s only 1,300 names after all.

[News via Bernama]

Recently, it was announced that a Malaysian, Ms. Emily Tan, was awarded one of this year’s international scholarships for the Erasmus Mundus Masters in Journalism and Media. The scholarship is a part of one of two sets of scholarships awarded by the European Commission for the Erasmus Mundus Journalism programme - one set for Non-EU nationals, and another for EU residents.

In fact, the Non-EU set of Erasmus Mundus scholarships actually consists of around 24 awards, with individual allotments for particular countries. For example, Malaysia is set to receive one international scholarship yearly, which of course, was awarded to Ms. Tan this year.

The scholarship is worth €42,000 for the whole two years of the Masters programme, with €13,500 being tuition fees.

Application requirements? Well, basically, all you have to be is an “excellent student” from a non-EU country who has full intention of reading the Erasmus Mundus Masters in Journalim and Media programme. Further details are not available, but experience shows that you should have graduated from your undergraduate programme with first-class honours, and have won a book prize or two.

If you’re interested, check out the Erasmus Mundus website for further details (and the application form).

In the past, the Equator Academy of Art (EAA) - an arts institute situated in Penang, Malaysia - provided students scholarships through the Star Education / Scholarship Fund. But this year, EAA has decided to give out scholarships directly to students aspiring to study art-related courses at the institute.

Both full and partial scholarships will be given out, with the total value of this year’s scholarships set at RM250,000.

Students interested in the scholarships may call 04-2265116 or 04-2281315, or go straight to the EAA campus at Wisma Equator, Amoy Lane, or at Leith Street to pick up the necessary forms.

[News via The Star Online]