ID :
407110
Thu, 05/19/2016 - 06:09
Auther :

PM Najib Lauds Khazanah Sponsorship And Residency Programmes

From Siti Hawa Othman LONDON, May 19 (Bernama) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in opening the regional office of Khazanah Europe Investment Ltd (KEIL) here on Tuesday night, announced an endowment fund by Yayasan Khazanah for the sponsorship of Malaysian students as well as the establishment of the Khazanah Residency Programme. He said Yayasan Khazanah, a foundation of Malaysian government's sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah Nasional Bhd, would make an endowment of US$7.28 million (5.0 million British pound) over five years, to sponsor three Malaysians every year, in perpetuity, to pursue full-time postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford, under the Rhodes Scholarship for Malaysia programme. For the residency programme, he said, Khazanah will sponsor up to 10 qualified Malaysians every year for short-term residencies and fellowships in locations around the world, focusing on the five areas of Arts, Culture & Society; Design; Public Service; Journalism; and Science & Technology. "I am delighted that Khazanah is showing this leadership in sending talented Malaysians abroad to broaden and enrich their knowledge and experience -- from which all Malaysians will benefit," he said at the launch of KEIL on the 22nd floor of the tallest building in the European Union known as The Shard. Najib said the new Khazanah office would act as a bridge for networks, productivity and skills between the two countries and as a precursor to more exciting things to happen. More than 150 leaders from business, government and academia from Malaysia, the UK and Europe attended the event, including UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Sajid Javid as well as the newly-elected Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. In conjunction with the opening of the new office, the Prime Minister also launched The Khazanah Report 2015 (TKR) and The Hasanah Report 2015 (THR), the latter providing information on its foundation Yayasan Hasanah which is responsible for its corporate responsibility and other distributive efforts. Elaborating on its scholarship programmes, Khazanah in a separate statement said it currently offers the Khazanah-Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Merdeka Scholarship and the Khazanah-Cambridge Scholarship to qualified Malaysian students. At the same event it also launched two new scholarships, namely the Rhodes Scholarship for Malaysia in partnership with Yayasan Khazanah as well as the Chevening-Khazanah Scholarship. The latter is a collaboration between Yayasan Khazanah and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office of the UK which provides up to five Malaysians every year to pursue a Master's degree at any Yayasan Khazanah-approved university in the UK. The Khazanah Residency Programme provides qualified Malaysians in the listed five fields with short-term residencies of up to three months in cities and regions where Khazanah offices are located. The new residency programme consolidates Khazanah's existing residency scheme for Malaysian artists and media fellowship for Malaysian journalists. To date, Khazanah has sponsored four Malaysian artists for short-term residencies in Beijing, Mumbai and Istanbul, while the Khazanah-Wolfson Press Fellowship in Cambridge has seen the participation of eight Malaysian journalists and three Khazanah staff members since 2013. The prime minister will fly to Sochi, Russia for a summit after a working visit to the UK from May 15 to 18. --BERNAMA

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