Financial aid for students of BR1M holders at ATI
KOTA KINABALU: A majority of Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) leavers do not pursue their tertiary education but opt to work instead, said ATI College executive chairman cum chief executive officer Datuk Seri Panglima Wong Khen Thau.
“One of the reasons cited is due to the inability of their parents to bear the high cost of living such as accommodation and other living expenses for their children to pursue higher education in the city.”
He said this trend did not bode well for the government in its effort to produce high quality labour force needed for a developed nation.
“The National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) covers less than 50 per cent of the whole tuition fees. Even for parents who are 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) recipients, PTPTN covers only between 70 to 80 per cent of the tuition fees.”
In view of these shortcomings, Wong said ATI College had come up with a financial aid scheme for students whose parents were BR1M holders, whereby the amount of tuition fees payable would be in accordance with the amount funded by PTPTN while the balance of the fees would be absorbed by the college.
On top of that, he said the college provided free accommodation and transportation, to and fro hostel to college, for a period of two years.
“In addition, we also provide a scholarship scheme to encourage bright SPM students to study in our college. This scholarship scheme is in the form of substantial discounts to our tuition fees,” he said at the 20th convocation ceremony of ATI College here yesterday.
The event was graced by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman.
Wong said ATI College continued to strive to provide equally good or even better higher education than those available in West Malaysia.
He said the college was currently running a Bachelor degree in Business and Hospitality Management programme in collaboration with Nilai University, one of the most well-known universities in West Malaysia.
“In the pipeline, we are working towards collaborating with Wawasan Open University to run their Bachelor in Business Management.
“We are also going to run the Master in Business Management programme of University of Wales in our college.
“With these, our children no longer need to leave their parents and families to travel across the South China Sea in pursuit of higher education.
“More affordable quality higher education is available at home now,” he said.
For those families who can afford overseas education, he said ATI College had also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Athlone Institute of Technology Ireland, Business Hotel Management School Luzern and Hotel Tourism Management Institute (HTMI) both located in Switzerland to enable its students to enter these colleges to further their studies with ease.
As the president of Sabah Private Higher Learning Institution Association (PIPTSS), Wong said the association fully supported the statement made recently by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, to make English as the medium of teaching in some schools again.
“We cannot deny that making English as the medium of instructions will right many wrongs and put our State’s education system back on the right track.”
On behalf of PIPTSS, Wong has also requested the State Government to provide assistance to underprivileged youth who were from the interior of Sabah whose families were perhaps living below the poverty line.
“Such assistance is vital in helping them build a career by giving them opportunities to pursue their studies to a higher level.
“It will help to bear their cost of living expenses and accommodation during their studies.
“This assistance is meant for those who deserve to be given the opportunities to seek and make the change in their life.”
Earlier in his speech, Wong said the college had adopted 13 secondary schools throughout the State under its School Tourism Outreach Programme (STOP) with the aim of empowering the schools and their students to bring economic change to their respective districts.
Through the formation of a Tourism Club in the schools, the college assists the students to identify and develop tourism products found in their respective villages, especially those which had not been developed yet, he said.
“The programme aims to eventually retain rural youth to become entrepreneurs in their own district and thereby putting a stop to the rampant migration of our rural youth to the urban city.
“Effectively this programme is more sustainable because we are changing the mindset of the kampung people.”
Under the programme, Wong said the college had conducted activities such as eco-tourism visits with school students, tour guide training for the students and kitchen activities at ATI College, as well as assisted the schools in setting up their small business ventures for the students to showcase their talents while learning to establish themselves as smalltime entrepreneurs.