KOTA KINABALU: Twenty international students are among the 635 postgraduate students who have enrolled for the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) 2013/2014 session.
UMS vice-chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Harun Abdullah said the international students were from China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan and the United Kingdom.
This brings the total number of enrollment of postgraduate students to 3,221, he said during the pledge-taking ceremony for the new students yesterday.
Dr Harun pointed out that the government was committed to implement education transformation through its programmes, particularly the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).
“To attain the target of 60,000 PhD holders by 2023, the government has implemented the MyBrain Programme under the Education Ministry. Under the programme, three other programmes have been created during the 10th Malaysia Plan and these are MyMaster, MyPhD and MyPhD Industry,” he said.
He explained that the programmes were geared at preparing loan facilities for eligible postgraduate students and subsequently, to improve the country’s level of education.
At the same time, UMS, together with the government, also expressed its commitment to translate the agenda of the Higher Education Strategic Plan through the UMS Halatuju Strategic Plan by 2020.
“Apart from the carefully framed strategic plans by the government, various financing facilities are also being offered to students who qualify. Students could opt for scholarships offered by third parties or the ones offered by UMS. UMS offers scholarships through its Postgraduate Study Centre to eligible students,” he said.