Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email After providing some info about the PSD selection criteria, PSD releases more info on the scholarship issue. Now, we learn that more than 3000 students have appealed.
PSD also confirms that the extra-curricular and interview marks are the ones that ultimately decide the student’s overall result. Problem is, out of 7200++ students, I’m sure many of them would have scored well in both the above criteria. So, what is the deciding factor? We are looking at possibilities that many students getting same amount of marks due to number of criteria being only 4. 70 marks is in the hand. Left with balance 30 to differentiate 7200++ candidates.
Secondly, both NST and Star provide totally opposite breakdown of the 151 fast-track students. NST says 117 were normal malaysians, while 34 were privileged ones. Star reverses the breakdown. Now who are we to believe? Simple number also can be messed up!
Thirdly, PSD is considering providing reasons for rejection. Looks like they are listening to the grouses a little. Perhaps by listing the recipients, they can be more transparent.
PUTRAJAYA: The Public Service Department (PSD) has received 3,000 appeals from post Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) students who failed to get scholarships for studies abroad. The decisions on the appeals will be made next month, PSD director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam said yesterday. Most of those rejected scored low marks in the interview and had less active co-curricular records.
“They were bright academically but many could not carry themselves with confidence during the interview. “So many students are getting straight As now that academic performance is taken for granted, so the tipping point lies in the confidence a student displays,” he said.
More than 6,000 SPM students last year scored 9As or more.“Students who get rejected look at their string of As and wonder why they didn’t get the scholarship. “But the fact is, there are so many others like them who are top scorers,” Ismail said.
He also said the PSD would consider stating the reasons for rejection in future applications. A common complaint by rejected students is that no reasons were given for their failure to obtain the scholarship.
Of the 2,000 successful recipients, 151 of them were put on the “fast lane”, or given priority because of their academic record and economic background. “We immediately shortlisted them because they got 10 1As and were from poor families earning below RM1,500 a month. “Of the 151, 117 were non-Bumiputeras and 34 were Bumiputeras. “We accepted it as that and we did not try to adjust anything,” he said at a briefing on the PSD’s foreign and local scholarships programme.
The cost of funding these 2,000 students overseas for the next five years is RM1.7 billion. Ismail also explained why the government could not offer more overseas scholarships. “We are constrained by the quota that foreign universities have for international students. “Also, medical degrees from certain countries like the United States and Japan are not recognised here. “So, we are limited in the number of places we can secure overseas,” he said. It’s not the end of the road or of the world for dejected applicants, Ismail added.
“The PSD has other avenues for local scholarships and for going abroad. “But students have to work hard.”
They are:
– scholarships for those who secure places in Ivy League universities;
– 10,000 scholarships available for SPM 2007 school-leavers to study in local universities;
– scholarships up to the completion of a first degree for those with a minimum of 9As in SPM, who enter Form Six or matriculation. Their Form Six or matriculation fees will be waived and a monthly allowance will be provided.
– scholarships for those completing their A-Levels in private colleges this year, who secured places (in critical fields only) in local branch campuses of Monash University, Nottingham University, Curtin University of Technology and Swinburne University.
More information and online applications through the PSD’s website would be provided next month.
PUTRAJAYA: A total of 151 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) top scorers from low-income families have been given “automatic” approvals for Public Service Department (PSD) scholarship. Department director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam said the students, who scored 10A1s, comprised 117 bumiputras (including those from Sabah and Sarawak) and 34 non-bumiputras.
He said the students, whose family incomes were below RM1,500 a month, however still needed to undergo interviews but “for formality’s sake”.
This year, the PSD is offering 2,000 scholarships for studies abroad. A total of 6,262 students who scored 9As and above applied for the scholarships.
“From our experience, students did not secure the scholarships because they did not do too well during interviews and also due to lack of co-curricular activities,” Ismail told a press conference yesterday.
He said the government would spend RM1.7bil for the scholarships. Most applications were for medicine, followed by pharmaceutical science and dentistry.
“I would like to advise students that there is life after SPM. Even if they cannot secure scholarships to go abroad, there are always the local universities to consider and other ways to get financial assistance to further their studies,” he said.
PSD corporate communications unit chief Hasniah Rashid said the department would consider applications from poor students who did not fare as well as those who came from families who were better off. “This means that when it comes to deciding between a poor applicant who scored 10A1s and a richer student with 12A1s, we will pick the former if he or she fulfils all the other requirements and passes the interview,” she added.
