Japan Offers Scholarship To 23 Malaysian Students

KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 (Bernama) -- Twenty-three students were awarded scholarship by the Japanese Government to a tune of about RM4.5 million to pursue their first degree and post-graduate degree courses in Japan. Japan's Ambassador to Malaysia Shigeru Nakamura said students pursuing their first degree will each receive US$83,860 (RM256,800) as scholarship for a five-year academic period. Post-graduate students will receive US$61,489 (RM188,280) each for the three-year session. "Degree students will receive US$1,398 (RM4,280) per month and a post-graduate student will receive US$1,709 (RM5,230) monthly," he told reporters at the certificate presentation ceremony at his residence, on Tuesday in the presence of Human Capital Development Division director Mohd Tajudin Don. The students, comprising 21 post-graduate and two under-graduate, were selected from among 100 applicants. Nakamura said they were selected based on their qualifications, the result of an examination set by the Japanese Government and interviews conducted by officials from the Embassy, the Public Service Department and Malaysian Education Ministry. The students are exempted from school, tuition and examination fees and also provided with round trip plane tickets, he added. He said that 2/3 from the students are engaged in Natural Sciences courses besides Finance, Management, Education, Architecture as well as Information Technology. The students will leave for Japan on April and October, he said. (US$1 = RM3.05) -- BERNAMA