Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email As the statistics continue to roll out about the PSD (JPA) scholarship recipients for overseas programme, PSD says only cream of crop were selected while news of unsuccessful angry applicants emerged. MIC had to go begging as usual. PSD head gave an interview regarding the selection criteria on NST recently. Full interview is found below. Let’s look at some pertinent points:
He clarified that the full scholarship offer is for local studies, which was actually quite clear in the newspaper reports. Maybe some parents misunderstood it.
The overseas programme is very competitive. The criteria is 70 points for academic excellence, 10 points for interview, 10 points for family economic background and 10 points for co-curricular activities.
The criteria for foreign studies scholarship is revealed, but the director also revealed that 15000 applications were received, out of which 7500 qualified. and out of 7500, only 2000 got it. That’s nearly 4 students (3.75 actually) fighting for one scholarship (3.75:1). And it seems there were 6262 straight A students.
He gives an example:
For the foreign degree programme, you may get 11 A1s. This means you get 70 marks for academic excellence. But you may lose out in the other 30 points.
You may lose out if your father earns RM50,000 a month – you’ll probably get two points out of 10.
If you get 11 A1s and your father is earning RM3,000 a month and you want to do engineering or medicine, probably you’ll get it.
So, academic excellence alone does not guarantee a scholarship.
That newspaper said students with 12 A1s and 11 A1s are not getting the scholarship. But that 11 A1s only qualifies you for 70 per cent (of the evaluation score).
Hmm…if the father earning 50K per month, they should reject the application! I think there should some limit for the monthly income, maybe 10K.
And he goes on providing info how (further?) filtering were done:
A: If you want to do medicine, you must have at least A2 for biology. If you get B3, you’re out. You should refer to our website for some details. That’s how they get screened out.
The 7,500 who are fighting for the 2,000 places get full marks for academic excellence.
For co-curricular activities, if you are just a member (of a society), it’s not enough. Other students represent the country, so surely they will get 10 points. Being a school prefect may get you five points.
And then, the interview. Sometimes, an academically good student may not perform well in an interview. We ask questions to assess their level of general knowledge. Let’s say, “What is your opinion of the development of sports in Malaysia?” If you don’t read the newspaper, you won’t know that our football team is number 140-whatever in the world ranking.
They will get two or three students to discuss the issues (in front of the interviewers) and we will observe. We are going to spend a lot of money on these students. So, they are our investment.
If we don’t get good students (it will be a waste). Even then, out of the 2,000, there will be some failures; as with any other investment.
Now, interview is the tricky part. Its subjective, thus can raise concern and unnecessary allegations of bias. But I guess it can’t be avoided. PSD can try to outsource the whole process, but there will always be element of doubt.
When asked about Kamine Devi, he evaded the question by saying:
A: There are also others besides PSD. There’s Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Mara, Petronas and other companies that a student can apply to.
Well, at least the public is getting some information on how things work. But as many are saying – time to reveal the list of recipients. Let the public see if these students are really cream of the crop.
What it takes to get a PSD scholarship
By : ANIZA DAMIS
source
Brilliant school-leavers: there’s good news and there’s bad news. The bad news is, 9 A1s may not be enough to get you a Public Service Department scholarship to study overseas. The competition is stiff and the application is over-subscribed by over 700 per cent. The good news is, you can still apply for a scholarship to study locally, and it’s quite easy to get. ANIZA DAMIS speaks to Public Service director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam.
Q: Can you explain the PSD scholarship offer to all students who get 9As?
A: Sometimes, the press provides a certain perspective that can be misunderstood by honest people, like on May 2 when the chief secretary issued a statement which says, among others, that students who got 9As in the 2007 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia exam will be offered scholarships, from Form Six until the first degree, locally.
Q: Locally?
A: That was the statement.
The PSD offers two kinds of scholarships. One is for the overseas degree programme and the other is for the local degree programme.On May 11, we published on our website the results of people who have succeeded in getting the overseas scholarship.
The overseas programme is very competitive. The criteria is 70 points for academic excellence, 10 points for interview, 10 points for family economic background and 10 points for co-curricular activities.
But after the announcement, you see in another English daily a lot of people complaining the government promised that those with 9As can get scholarship. Nine 9As is for local studies. Not foreign.
For the foreign degree programme, you may get 11 A1s. This means you get 70 marks for academic excellence. But you may lose out in the other 30 points.
You may lose out if your father earns RM50,000 a month – you’ll probably get two points out of 10.
If you get 11 A1s and your father is earning RM3,000 a month and you want to do engineering or medicine, probably you’ll get it.
So, academic excellence alone does not guarantee a scholarship.
That newspaper said students with 12 A1s and 11 A1s are not getting the scholarship. But that 11 A1s only qualifies you for 70 per cent (of the evaluation score).
Q: Just how competitive is it?
A: For the overseas degree programme, we have 2,000 places.
Q: And how many applicants did you get for the 2,000 scholarships?
A: More than 15,000. And of this, half – 7,500 – made the cut.
Q: How did you filter them?
A: If you want to do medicine, you must have at least A2 for biology. If you get B3, you’re out. You should refer to our website for some details. That’s how they get screened out.
The 7,500 who are fighting for the 2,000 places get full marks for academic excellence.
For co-curricular activities, if you are just a member (of a society), it’s not enough. Other students represent the country, so surely they will get 10 points. Being a school prefect may get you five points.
And then, the interview. Sometimes, an academically good student may not perform well in an interview. We ask questions to assess their level of general knowledge. Let’s say, “What is your opinion of the development of sports in Malaysia?” If you don’t read the newspaper, you won’t know that our football team is number 140-whatever in the world ranking.
They will get two or three students to discuss the issues (in front of the interviewers) and we will observe. We are going to spend a lot of money on these students. So, they are our investment.
If we don’t get good students (it will be a waste). Even then, out of the 2,000, there will be some failures; as with any other investment.
Q: How do we get these students to come back after they’ve completed their studies?
A: We have a contract and (if they don’t come back) they have to pay.
Before 2003, if you broke your bond, you or your guarantor had to pay. The amount was less than what was spent on you. But now, the penalty is the actual cost (of what was spent on the student).
So, before this, if you were doing medicine, you had to pay RM160,000, which is less than a year’s scholarship. We spend RM1.2 million for each medical student.
But over 90 per cent of our students come back. The ones who don’t come back are mostly medical students. If they don’t come back, we get their guarantors.
Q: How many students have applied for local scholarships?
A: We will only open the applications in June. For local studies, we don’t have much of a problem. We offer 10,000 scholarships. And it’s not that popular. This is a trend we have noticed.
Local education is highly subsidised, unless you do medicine.
If you do economics or law, it’s not that expensive. But if you take a government scholarship, you’ve got to serve the government for five years.
So, some of these students get their fathers to pay. Then they don’t have to serve the government. That’s why it’s easier to get (the scholarship) because it’s not so competitive.
The requirement for a local scholarship is 80 points for academic excellence and 20 points for parents’ economic background. That’s all. And you must have secured a place in a local university.
It must be a critical subject. We don’t give scholarships for every subject. It’s medicine, engineering, dentistry, economics, law, psychology and so on.
Q: What about the case of K. Kamine Devi from Sitiawan, who had 10 A1s and who had applied for a scholarship to study medicine overseas, and didn’t get a scholarship? And she did not get a place for matriculation in a local university. So, what does a person have to do to get a PSD scholarship?
A: There are also others besides PSD. There’s Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Mara, Petronas and other companies that a student can apply to.
The foreign degree programme has 2,000 places, as mentioned earlier. This is for critical areas like medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, engineering, biotechnology and selective social sciences. And the criteria is 70,10,10,10.
Then we have local scholarships. Beginning this year, those who have 9As and are in Form Six or matriculation are eligible for sponsorship right through their first degree. If they don’t get into university, that’s it. It ends at Form Six or matriculation.
There is another avenue, but it is a longer road. From this year, any Malaysian who gets into an Ivy League university (in the United States) or Oxford and Cambridge (in Britain) or the Group of Eight in Australia, will be sponsored by the government, but again, in specified fields of study.
If you didn’t do well in SPM, you still have a chance. Do A-Levels and work your butt off and get into Harvard, and a scholarship will be waiting for you.
There’s another package. If you get into a local foreign university (a foreign university that has a Malaysian campus) – Nottingham, Monash, Curtin and Swinburne – you are also eligible for a PSD scholarship.
So, there are a lot of avenues.
Of course, the “jewel” is the foreign degree programme.
I was told by the Education Ministry that 6,262 students scored straight As last year. The competition is great.
A mother emailed me that the son did well but didn’t get a PSD scholarship. So I called her. I found out that her son is a pure science student but wants to do accountancy. He didn’t do accounting in Form Five.
I told her to check with her son whether he would consider doing engineering. But he refused. So, since he is doing his A-Levels, I told him to do it very well and go to an Ivy League university, and we will sponsor him. So, that is what he is targeting now.
The alternatives are there, as never before.
Q: What about post-graduate studies? The PSD only offers scholarships for post-graduate studies to graduates who are first degree PSD scholars.
A: I know. Somebody complained. We have an excellence programme for PSD scholars who do well (first-class) in areas that the government requires.
But we also have the Agong’s Scholarship for a dozen people.
This is for the crème de la crème. We get special people to do the selecting. It’s for Malaysians studying locally or abroad.
First-class is the basic requirement. They can go anywhere in the world. They get double the allowance.
One day, a deputy minister called me: “Please help me. My daughter applied for the Agong’s Scholarship. She’s first-class.”
I said: “YB, everybody (applying) is first-class.”
If they are successful, they get a letter from the king. They have an audience with the king. If you look at them, you know they are brilliant. Not everybody can talk to the king without stammering.
The selection process is very tough. And when they come back, they don’t have to work for the government. But they have to work for the country.
Hi readers,
First of all, i want to express my dissatisfaction regarding PSD’s overseas scholarships. My application was turned down by PSD. I do not know whether we Malaysian realized the fact that only Chinese and Indians are complaining about the subject not getting the PSD’s overseas scholarships. Me myself achieved straight 11A’s with an exclusive 1A for 1119 paper in SPM 2007 and my family’s economic status i can considered as average. My dad is a lorry driver and my mom is a housewife. Besides that, my cgpa for extra curricular is 9.00/10.00. I involved myself actively in sports and one of them is high jump competition until state level. Honestly, i am not born with a “golden spoon in my mouth”. So, i have been struggled for the past 11yrs of my schooling life to maintain good results in examination as i need a scholarship very badly because of the financial problem facing by my family to support my further education. However, 11th May PSD’s overseas scholarship result had hurt my heart excruciatingly. I seriously do not know why PSD turned me down as PSD provide scholarships criteria as a guide. On the other hand, students with only 6 or 7 A’s and family’s economic background which are so stable can secured this PSD scholarships. HOW could this happened if there are scholarships criteria as 70,10,10,10??? Do the scholarship criteria really exist? If it really does then why PSD did not take up the suggestion to list down the 2000 names with their SPM 2007 results on daily newspaper?
What made me even frustrated and disappointed were my applications for TNB, PETRONAS ,BNM ,KHAZANAH, YTM ,MATRIKULASI and even IPTA all turned down too. I was selected for top 2000 students throughout Malaysia to undergo PETRONAS’s interview. I was selected for PLKN as well and PLKN really being a slight burden for me to undergo those interviews. Nevertheless, i managed to struggle through it. Another question keep on buzzing my mind is WHY students with only 2A’s and 3A’s get selected for Matrikulasi and IPTA but why not me? Are they better than me? This is what we Malaysian called fair is it? I certainly felt blur and confused what is wrong with Malaysia government recently.
Last but not least, i would like to end my comments in this paragraph. I really do hope PSD understands my current situation and willingly to give me a second chance. I really appreciate it if PSD notice my existence as 11yrs of my hard work struggling to achieve good results in examination, with a concrete cgpa extra curricular and an average family’s economic background paid off. Please do kindly reply me. Thank you.
Read below idiotic statement from MMMM .
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MMMM bantah kenaikan biasiswa bukan bumiputera 45 peratus
JOHOR BAHRU 29 Mei – Majlis Muafakat Melayu Malaysia (MMMM) tidak bersetuju dengan langkah kerajaan menaikkan kadar biasiswa Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) untuk bukan bumiputera kepada 45 peratus daripada 10 peratus mulai tahun ini.
Setiausaha Satu MMMM, Prof. Madya Datuk Zainal Abidin Borhan berkata, ini kerana kenaikan tersebut merupakan jumlah yang besar dan dianggap boleh menjejaskan hak dan faedah yang dinikmati oleh pelajar Melayu.
“MMMM berpendapat biasiswa perlu diberi kepada semua pelajar Melayu yang layak dan hak orang Melayu berkaitan itu tidak boleh diberikan kepada kaum lain,” katanya ketika dihubungi Utusan Malaysia di sini hari ini.
Semalam, Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Mohammed Nazri Aziz berkata, biasiswa JPA untuk program ijazah di luar negara kepada bukan bumiputera dinaikkan kepada 45 peratus mulai tahun ini berbanding 10 peratus tahun lalu.
Mohammed Nazri berkata, secara keseluruhan sebanyak 2,000 biasiswa disediakan oleh JPA iaitu 1,100 untuk bumiputera dan 900 untuk bukan bumiputera.
Zainal Abidin berkata, kenaikan biasiswa untuk bukan bumiputera kepada 45 peratus tidak wajar kerana ia hampir menyamai kadar 50 peratus yang dinikmati bumiputera.
Katanya, tindakan itu menggambarkan kerajaan seolah-olah memberi layanan sama rata kepada kaum lain dalam pemberian biasiswa dan dikhuatiri tidak mustahil pada masa depan kadar itu menjadi sama.
Tegasnya, kenaikan itu juga bertentangan dengan peruntukan Perkara 153, Perlembagaan Persekutuan berkaitan dengan Hak-Hak Istimewa Orang Melayu.
“Sepatutnya pemberian perlu menggunakan sistem kuota bumiputera 65 peratus berdasarkan jumlah penduduk Melayu dan 35 peratus untuk bukan bumiputera,” jelasnya.
Sementara itu di KUALA LUMPUR, Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM) menuntut penjelasan daripada Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz mengenai langkah menaikkan biasiswa itu.
Setiausaha Agungnya, Khairul Anwar Mohd. Munir berkata, langkah itu amat memeranjatkan kerana dalam Perlembagaan Perkara 152(2) dan 153(3) menyatakan dengan jelas pecahan biasiswa sebanyak 90 peratus kepada bumiputera dan 10 peratus untuk bukan bumiputera.
Beliau turut mempersoalkan kewajaran langkah tersebut memandangkan peratusan penduduk bumiputera di negara ini adalah lebih tinggi.
”Kedua, taraf kemiskinan dalam kalangan bumiputera juga adalah lebih tinggi berbanding bukan bumiputera.
”Dan dalam konteks pembabitan bumiputera di dalam sektor profesional, bumiputera masih jauh ketinggalan khususnya di Sabah dan Sarawak,” katanya dalam kenyataan di sini hari ini.
Khairul Anwar menambah, langkah seperti itu sama sekali tidak mencerminkan sebuah dasar yang dilaksanakan ke arah mewujudkan keadilan sosial di negara ini.
Menurutnya, dalam jangka masa panjang, keputusan itu hanya akan merugikan dan menyebabkan bumiputera terus ketinggalan.
Bagaimanapun, Majlis Belia Malaysia (MBM) menyambut baik langkah JPA menaikkan biasiswa kepada bukan bumiputera.
Presidennya, Datuk Shamsul Anuar Nasarah berkata, semua pihak perlu menerima hakikat bahawa terdapat golongan bukan bumiputera yang tidak berkemampuan.
”Bagaimanapun, JPA perlu memastikan hanya bukan bumiputera yang layak sahaja menerima biasiswa tersebut.
”Langkah ini juga membuktikan yang kerajaan tidak hanya membantu satu golongan sahaja tetapi semua kaum,” katanya.