As an effort to promote Malaysian universities as the destination for students mobility programmes, Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS) in collaboration with Education Malaysia Australia (EMA) have initiated a programme to empower Malaysian students in Australia as Malaysia’s Junior Ambassador.
The launching ceremony was graciously officiated by High Commissioner of Malaysia to Commonwealth of Australia, His Excellency Dato’ Roslan Abdul Rahman.
In his speech, Dato’ Roslan signified some of the reasons students from Australia should study in Malaysia.
In Malaysia, the tuition fees and living expenses are low so higher education is highly affordable.
In fact, Kuala Lumpur is consistently highly ranked in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Top Universities as ‘Most Affordable Cities for Students’.
Moreover, English is the second language, so there is minimal barrier to communication and the diversity in culture that ‘Malaysia Truly Asia’.
The Chairman of Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS), Datin Maizatul Akmam Alawi, and Associate Director of Global Education and Experience, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) International, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohd Ariffin bin Abu Hassan, also attended the event.
In this event, two alumni from the New Colombo Plan (NCP) mobility programme shared their experience studying in Malaysia.
Ms. Sonia Parulekar, who did a mobility programme in Universiti Malaya said that she had great fun with her Malaysian friends enjoying late night ‘teh tarik’ and she definitely will visit Malaysia again in the future.
Other than Malaysian students and NCP alumni, there were also representatives from other universities in Australia.
One of them is the Director (International), Griffith University, Griffith Sciences, Australia, Assoc. Prof. Erwin Oh.
The (NCP) mobility programme is a fund offered by the Australian government for Australian students to study overseas.
The NCP mobility programme funds about 10,000 students every year to 40 countries including Malaysia.
Currently, Malaysia is ranked at 7th as the destination choice for mobility programmes by Australian students.