A crowning achievement
WHEN second year Mechanical Engineering (MEng) student Lee Kean Wee discovered he was among the four students selected, he could not believe it.
“When they called me, I was cooking. When I heard the good news I forgot what I was supposed to be doing and was running around, screaming and feeling so happy,” he recalls.
The Khazanah Watan Scholarship provides exceptional young Malaysians the opportunity to pursue undergraduate and postgraduate study in any field at a leading institution such as the University of Southampton.
University of Southampton Malaysia Campus Research and Engineering Foundation Year programme director Dr Suhaila Mohd Sanip is delighted to hear the good news.
She said: “Khazanah Watan is the most prestigious scholarship in Malaysia and University of Southampton Malaysia Campus is very proud to be associated with Khazanah. I am proud to say most of our students embody the requirement of a Khazanah scholar where they have academic excellence as well as the characteristics of future leaders. Therefore the partnership with Yayasan Khazanah will enable top students to pursue a master’s degree in engineering from a Top 100 university through a global education.”
The Khazanah Watan Scholarship pays for four to five years of study at the University of Southampton where the first two to three years of the MEng degree is spent at the Malaysia campus and the final two at the Highfield Campus in Southampton, UK.
For Engineering Foundation Year student Wo Yew Ben, success did not happen so easily.
“Actually, this is the second time I applied,” he admits.
“The first time was for A-Levels but I did not pass the scholarship. When I found out that there was another opportunity for me, I tried again.”
The gift of seeing the upside of down was also something innate in first year MEng Aeronautics and Astronautics student Nelson Ng Jia Jun.
He was among the bursary scholars whose JPA scholarship got suspended. Yet, he still subscribes to the idea that when a door is closed, there will be another window open for you.
“I had an unconditional offer to study at one of the top 10 universities in the world. However, due to the suspension of the JPA scholarship, that did not materialise. I decided to do the next best thing – join the University of Southampton Malaysia Campus and, luckily, I got the Khazanah Watan scholarship.”
To study overseas was a far-fetched idea for Syed Muhammad Afiq Syed Yussof, who was already in his first month taking up mechanical engineering at Universiti Malaya.
“I saw the advertisement online and I thought this could be my one and only chance to gain an overseas degree whilst having the best of both worlds – I could spend and build friendships in the Malaysia campus before transferring to the UK. I figured I might as well take this chance,” said Afiq, who is now a first year MEng student at the university.
Nurturing dreams, enabling future leaders
Since secondary school, Lee has been motivated to learn more about sustainable energy.
This September, he will be transferring to the UK campus to complete his MEng programme.He plans to take up biodiesel or solar energy as an optional module.
Lee is an active member of the University of Southampton Students’ Association Malaysia.
Potable and ample supply of water is what interests Afiq at the moment. He has been involved in several projects inspired by Bill Gate’s Omni Processor and hopes this technology will be made easily available in rural areas.
Meanwhile, Ng and Wo believe that business acumen is the missing tool in the toolbox of most engineers. After graduation, Wo plans to enrol in a business school.
“Having knowledge in business also helps with your career advancement as well as protect your career during a weak economy,” reflects Wo.
“I understand that education can get expensive but knowledge can still be free,” says Ng, who also runs an online fashion business called 97 Bros.
“I realise that, in this millennium year, finding a job you are passionate about isn’t easy. I want to create job opportunities by following my passion, which is starting a business. For those who want to follow this path, it is absolutely necessary to understand how business works.”
For details, look out for the advertisement in this StarSpecial.