KUALA LUMPUR: The government has allocated RM30 million for the Sulung Student Development programme (Program Pembangunan Siswa Sulung) this year.
Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said 10,000 students from the Bottom 40 (B40) families, who are the first in their families to pursue tertiary studies, would benefit from the programme.
Under the programme, the students will be exempted from paying tuition fees when enrolling in public universities.
"Hopefully with this initiative, the first representative from the B40 family, who was offered a place at a public university, will be able to pursue his or her higher education comfortably," he said during the closing ceremony of the "Jom Masuk U 2023" programme and the launch of the TVET Foundation programme at Universiti Malaya today.
The Sulung programme was initiated last year, targeting the first person in a family from the B40 group to attend university.
On the TVET Foundation programme, Khaled said: "Starting this year, successful TVET programme applicants will be placed in any of the five selected TVET Foundation centres that will be opened in the country."
The TVET Foundation centres are Politeknik Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin, which will work with Universiti Malaysia Perlis; Politeknik Tun Syed Nasir Syed Ismail, which will work with Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia; Politeknik Merlimau Melaka, which will work with Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka; Politeknik Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, which will work with Universiti Malaysia Pahang; and Politeknik Ungku Omar, which will be a joint TVET centre for four technical universities.
Khaled said: "This is not only a recognition of TVET programmes, but a systematic and clear path to the degree level."
In a similar development, he said the ministry, together with Polytechnic Education and Community Colleges Department, was finalising the process to enable the recruitment of skills certificate holders from all types of skills institutions to enrol into a polytechnic.
"Not only will the entry route to polytechnic be simplified but skills certificate holders will also have the opportunity to enjoy credit transfer or jump straight into the second year of study.
"This initiative is an expansion of the existing policy that already allows polytechnic graduates to enjoy credit transfer and jump directly to the second year when continuing their studies at degree level in technical universities.
"We hope that this will be an attractive incentive and motivation for young people, especially skills certificate holders, to continue their education at a higher level in the TVET field."