PROGRAM TRAIN AND PLACE SECARA PERCUMA

The discussions - which lasted for seven hours - involved more than 50 people who were eager to find out about opportunities available in universities and other colleges.

The discussions dealt with a number of issues including grouses by students who had been offered courses that they did not apply for and the apprehension some had in studying at Universiti Malaysia Sabah in Labuan and the Universiti Malaysia Terengganu in Kuala Terengganu.

There were also enquiries pertaining to the availability of scholarships, study grants and loans.

Facebook option for students

According to the panel of moderators, one option was for students to explore the Higher Education Ministry's post-graduate study grants.

Students needing financial help were asked to check several websites (view link) to find a comprehensive list of scholarships and grants available from various sources including the private and public sectors.

The MIC wing also offered students the option to check on job vacancies and scholarships via Facebook.

The online chat began at 10.30am and ended at 5.30pm.

The session was moderated by Putera MIC members who were former university students as well as several local university staff members.

Putera chief coordinator P Kamalanathan said he was happy with the response to the live chats.

"Based on the good response, we would extend this chat session to discuss other issues as well," he told Malaysiakini.

Source : Malaysiakini.com

PUTRAJAYA: MIC will take up the appeals of students who failed to secure Public Services Depart­ment (PSD) scholarships, its secretary-general Datuk Dr S. Subra­maniam said.

He urged students who were unsuccessful in getting PSD scholarships to submit a copy of their appeal letters to his office or the MIC’s educational arm, the Maju Institute of Educational Develop­ment (MIED).

“We are monitoring the number of applicants who were not successful despite having good grades and will discuss the situation with PSD officials,” he said yesterday.

The PSD interviewed 8,363 out of the 15,084 candidates who applied for scholarships under the foreign degree programme be­­tween March 31 and April 3.

However, a PSD statement said only 2,000 students would be offered scholarships to study abroad for courses already stipulated by the Government.

The results of the offer would be carried in the PSD portal esila.gov.my and unsuccessful candidates can submit their appeals online till May 18.

Dr Subramaniam also urged those who had appealed to submit a copy to the Human Resources Minister’s office at Level 9, Blok D3, Kompleks D, 62530 Putrajaya.

Applicants are also advised to contact P. Munusamy at 03-8871 1357, A. Saravanan at 03-8886 5028 or S. Nadarajan at 03-8886 5007 from the minister’s office or fax their appeal letters to 03-8889 3033 or 03-8889 2390.

They can also submit their appeal letters to the MIED at Level 1, Menara Manickavasagam, MIC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur or contact MIED at 03-4042 2885 or fax to 03-4045 6377.

Meanwhile, MIC president Da­­tuk Seri S. Samy Vellu has asked Universiti Putra Malaysia to offer a Tamil-language course to give In­­dian students more opportunities.

He and Dr S. Subramaniam made this request to Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin yesterday.

THE Maju Institute of Educational Development (MIED), the educational arm of the MIC will honour outstanding students of the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) examinations last year.

MIED chairman Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said the annual President’s Merit Award would be given to Indian students who scored 8A1s and above in SPM and 4As and above in STPM.

“It is to recognise their achievements and to spur them and others to excel further in their studies,” said Samy Vellu, who is also the MIC president.

This is the ninth consecutive year where MIED has been awarding the President’s Merit Award to high achievers.

Students are invited to submit their applications to the MIED by attaching copies of their results, identity card, a passport-size photograph as well as their name, home address and contact number.

Successful candidates will be decided by the President’s Merit Award Committee and would be notified by post.

All applications must reach the MIED office at 1st floor, Menara Manickavasagam, No 1 Jalan Rahmat, 50350 Kuala Lumpur not later than May 8, 2009.

For further information, please contact Ms Kavitha or Ms Vanitha at 03-4044 7584 or 03-4044 7453 or fax 03-4045 6377

KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 - Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today announced the liberalisation of the services sector, bringing an end to the 30 per cent Bumiputera ownership condition for the sector in an attempt to improve Malaysia's competitiveness in light of the slowing global economy.

Najib, who is also the finance minister, also promised further liberalisation, saying that he would announce details of the liberalisation of the financial sector next week.

Reading from a prepared statement the Prime Minister said he expected a greater flow of foreign investments in the services sector  which currently forms 11 per cent of total investment.

"Recognising the growth potential in the services sector, the government has decided to immediately liberalise 27 services sub-sectors, with no equity condition imposed. These sub-sectors are in the areas of health and social services, tourism services, transport services, business services and computer and related services," said Najib.

The government, he added, would also allow foreign legal firms to practice in the country but to only offer services in Islamic finance.

"As part of the measures to develop Malaysia as an international Islamic financial hub, the legal profession will be liberalised to allow up to five top international law firms with expertise in international Islamic finance to practice in Malaysia," said Najib.

Other services liberalised are in the areas of health and social services, tourism services, transport services, business services and computer and related services.

Najib also announced an allocation of RM100 million to be managed by the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) to strengthen the local services industry in facing the liberalisation.

"The liberalisation initiatives will not adversely affect the domestic services industry. The government will continue to support the industry in capacity building and in the opening up of export markets," said Najib.

When asked on the sub-sectors selected to be liberalised, Najib said it was part of Malaysia's commitment to Asean on liberalisation.

"It's in line with what Asean countries are doing. Some (of our measures) are better," he told reporters.

Najib however refused to give out details on the liberalisation of the financial sector.

"I want it to be full of surprises," he said.