300 grants up for grabs
Funds worth RM20mil provided by 10 institutions in China
China is offering more than RM20mil worth of scholarships for Malaysians to study in Chinese universities.
KUALA LUMPUR: More than 300 scholarships valued at RM20mil for tertiary education in China are up for grabs, thanks to the efforts of MCA and a body comprising graduates from that country.
Announcing this yesterday, MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong said the 307 scholarships were open to Chinese independent school-leavers and STPM holders.
The half and full scholarships for the September intake are provided by 10 higher learning institutions in China.
They include Tianjin University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Jinan University, Ocean University of China and Fuzhou University.
Four scholarships are for postgraduate studies.
The body involved is the Association of Graduates from Universities and Colleges in China, Malaysia.
Dr Wee said besides students with excellent grades, the scholarships were also reserved for students from less wealthy families with average results.
“Thanks to the association, which believes that tertiary education is one of the ways for the poor to raise their social status,” he said at the China Education Fair held at the Confucian Private Secondary School here.
Thirty-eight higher learning institutions from China and one from South Korea attended the fair.
Dr Wee, who is a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said China required students to have six years of secondary education before they could enrol in Chinese institutions.
He said a committee would be set up to explore the possibility of having a pre-university course for SPM school-leavers who were interested to study in China.
He also extended an invitation to the association to join the Malaysian Chinese Education Consultative Council which he helms.
Chinese Embassy counsellor Liu Dongyuan said there were some 7,900 Malaysian students in China as of last year.
She said these students would be highly sought after by Chinese companies present in Malaysia.
Speaking to reporters later, Dr Wee said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak proposed to recognise the Unified Examination Certification (UEC) back in 2013 but the offer was not taken up by the then United Chinese School Committees’ Association (Dong Zong) leadership.
He said Dong Zong chairman Datuk Vincent Lau Lee Ming revealed recently that the Prime Minister met with Dong Zong officials three days before Parliament was dissolved that year.
Dr Wee said the Government always strived to make good its pledges, “unlike the Opposition”.
“In an interview with Singapore’s The Straits Times, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad admitted that Pakatan Harapan might not be able to fulfil its manifesto of abolishing tolls and GST.
“He is not in the Government, so no one will scold him. But for us, we work hard to fulfil our promises,” Dr Wee said.
On his candidacy in the Ayer Hitam parliamentary seat, Dr Wee said he lived by the adage of “a modest man has everything to gain while the arrogant man has everything to lose”.
“I am working hard for the ‘war’, and I am facing it calmly. In the end it is up to the people, who are the bosses, to decide.”