KUALA LUMPUR: Forty four local professionals from various fields have been selected to pursue their postgraduate studies in the United Kingdom as recipients of the prestigious British government’s Chevening scholarship for the 2017/2018 academic session.
The Chevening award is the UK government’s global scholarship programme offered by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
British High Commissioner to Malaysia Vicki Treadell, who hosted a pre-departure briefing and reception for the scholars today, said education continued to be a key priority leading the agenda between the UK and Malaysia as the countries celebrated 60 years of diplomatic relations this year.
“Malaysia’s growing appetite for higher education in the UK is reflected in the increase in Chevening Scholarships applications. We received a record of 830 applications for the 2017/18 year compared to 701 applications received in the previous year.”
She said Malaysia continued to receive one of the highest number of Chevening scholarships per capita in the world.”
“I am sure all 44 recipients this year are fired-up to begin their journey in the UK. I hope all of you would take this oppportunity to take up new challenges and step out of your comfort zones,” she told the scholarship recipients in her speech.
Successful scholars will be heading to the UK as early as September this year to pursue a wide range of Master’s programmes at top UK universities, with the aim of returning to Malaysia to make a significant contribution in one of these priority areas: public policy; human rights and law; media and education; economics; science and engineering.
This year’s recipients include New Straits Times’ news editor Faridul Anwar Farinordin, who will pursue a Master’s degree in Migration and Global Development at University of Sussex in Brighton, England. He is expected to begin the course next month.
Faridul, who has been with the NST for 22 years, was also a recipient of NST Scholarship award during his undergraduate studies at the International Islamic University Malaysia from 1991 to 1995.
He said the course would allow him to gain better insight into trans-boundary issues that affect global communities, particularly in the Southeast Asia.
“As our country continues to play a huge role in dealing with migration and refugee issues, it is important to seek and develop new initiatives as we look into the future”.
Faridul, who had won the Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) awards for journalism in the past, said the changing geopolitics and socio-economic climate around the world further stressed the importance in finding effective solutions to the growing issues which could be shared among various stakeholders.
“I would like to thank the NST for allowing me to embark on this wonderful journey,” he said.
On top of the British government’s funding, corporate partners including BAE Systems, CIMB Group Holdings Berhad, the Prudence Foundation (community investment arm of Prudential), HSBC, Yayasan Khazanah and British universities are on board to provide additional funding in support of the Chevening programme.