Mara makes offer to student who scored 20As in SPM

It’s always nice to read a story of a student from a humble background made good. But this story is troubling on a couple of levels. Why is the Minister Noh Omar by passing the formalities of the interview and the form filling? Why do the rules apply to some and not to others? Also, what is the rush of sending this student to the UK to do her A-levels? It might be better for her to do her A-levels in Malaysia as she might suffer a culture shock in the UK. Of course, we remember the disparity in treatment between this case and the case of the late Chiang Ti-Ming who received no help from the governement whatsoever.

Be that as it may, I wish Nik Nur all the best in her studies.

Monday March 16, 2009
Mara makes offer to student who scored 20As in SPM

KUALA LUMPUR: Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) has offered the nation’s top SPM scorer Nik Nur Madihah Nik Mohd Kamal a convertible loan for her to pursue her studies overseas.

Nik Nur Madihah, who scored 19 1As and one 2A, will be sent to do her A-Levels in Britain if she accepts the offer.

STPM and SPM 2009

Congrats to all who did well in STPM and SPM. You might want to check out my previous writings here, here, here and here.

Remember not to let the deadlines slip if you are thinking of applying to Singaporean universities.
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Hard work pays off
SMK METHODIST ACS, Ipoh, students N. Jothiswaran and Loh Kah Yee were a bundle of nerves before they stepped forward to receive their STPM result slips from their teachers earlier this week.

But after a quick look at the slips, their anxieties vanished and they started smiling from ear to ear.

Jothiswaran had scored five As, and Loh, four. They were among nine candidates from the school who achieved a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 4.0 each.

Mercedez Benz

Mercedez Benz

Janis Joplin

oh lord, won’t you buy me a mercedez benz
my friends all drive porches
I must make amends
worked hard all my lifetime,
no help from my friends
oh lord, won’t you buy me a mercedez benz

oh lord, won’t you buy me a color t.v.
dialing for dollars is trying to find me
I’ll wait for delivery
each day untill three
oh lord, won’t you by a color t.v.

oh lord, won’t you buy me a night on the town
i’m counting on you lord,
please don’t let me down
prove that you love me, and buy the next round
oh lord, won’t you buy me a night on the town

oh lord, won’t you buy me a mercedez benz
my friends all drive porches
I must make amends
worked hard all my lifetime,
no help from my friends
oh lord, won’t you by me a mercedez benz

We can be truly global if we do it all in English

Some eminently sensible words from a young man. Proof that wisdom is not monopoly of the old.
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We can be truly global if we do it all in English

I AM a second-year medical student studying in Universiti Malaya. During my secondary school years, Science and Maths were taught in Malay. Upon entering local matriculation, the two subjects were taught in English and many of us had problems adjusting to the language. Some lecturers had problems teaching in English too.

The Downside About Studying in Singapore

…the stress levels at the universities can become pretty intense.
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Schools on alert for warning signs of strain

Their counsellorsand staff keep alookout for students with problems

Wednesday • March 4, 2009

Lin Yanqin

yanqin@mediacorp.com.sg

WHETHER :Nanyang Technological University (NTU) student David Hartanto Widjaja had felt weighed down by a glitch in his final-year project, or by the loss of his scholarship, his suicide after stabbing his: project supervisor had many abuzz about how stressed tertiary students here are — on occasion, to breaking point.

:As schools told :Today:, they have measures in place for students’ mental and emotional needs. These including counselling centres on campus, hotlines manned by students, and faculty members who look out for warning signs.:

The Language March: Opportunistic and Populist Move

This saddens me a great deal. The language march is, in my view, an opportunistic and populist move which will ultimately hurt Malaysia. Like it or not, English is the international language of commerce. As Gordon Brown said, “Globalisation is not an option, it is a fact.”

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Language march: Tear gas fired
Malaysiakini Team | Mar 7, 09 3:05pm
Police came down hard on some 8,000 people taking part in a protest march from Masjid Negara to Istana Negara in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.

MCPXThey cordoned off the road leading to the palace, firing rounds of tear gas at the crowd as they approached the palace.

Pitfalls of a PhD in the UK

An interesting story in the Independent, UK.

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How overseas students can avoid the pitfalls of signing up for a PhD in the UK

Thousands of international graduates sign up each year for PhDs in the UK. But many find that their supervision is poor quality. Steve McCormack looks at the pitfalls – and how to avoid them

Pact to link funding with projects

Instead of designating an apex university, Malaysia could have gone the Australian way of linking funding to specific research projects and centres of excellence. That means universities would have to compete for funding by proving that they have a worthwhile project or a track record of research excellence. There is nothing like competion to raise standards.

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COMPACT agreements between the Commonwealth government and universities that link funding to specific missions will be introduced as part of the Government’s shake up of higher education, research minister Kim Carr said today.

USM Treating Indonesian Cleft-lip Patients

What a wonderful project! Kudos to USM Dentistry department.

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March 05, 2009 22:18 PM

USM Treating Indonesian Cleft-lip Patients

KOTA BAHARU, March 5 (Bernama) — The higher education ministry has applauded Universiti Sains Malaysia’s (USM) move to help treat children born with cleft-lip and palate in remote areas of Indonesia.

Deputy minister Datuk Idris Haron said the social service made Malaysia the first Islamic country to offer such a treatment in Pekan Baru, Riau.

Wrong Partnership for UM

This comment is a little late in coming. But this arrangement with Unisim is, in my view, the wrong kind of partnership for University Malaya. With respect to the staff and students at Unisim, the fact is that Unisim is not a research university like NUS, NTU and SMU. It is not a very strategic move for UM, the premier research university in Malaysia, to be collaborating with Unisim. Perhaps, in future University of Malaya will try to form meaningful research collaborations with NUS, NTU or SMU.

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Sunday February 8, 2009
Pact signed

Dr Ghauth (third from left) exchanging documents with Prof Cheong. Also present are (from left) UM’s Dr Mohamad Mokhtar Abu Hassan, Deputy Director, Academy of Malay Studies, Prof Dr Azirah Hashim, Dean, Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, and UniSim’s Provost Prof Tsu Kai Chong and Registrar Assoc Prof Yip Woon Kong.

UNIVERSITI Malaya (UM) has agreed to collaborate in advisory and training services with the Singapore Institute of Management University (UniSIM) for the latter’s Bachelor degree in Malay Language and Literature.