Friends Of STAR

Students from Malaysia who wish to enter Singapore schools at the Pre-University 1 level under the ASEAN Scholarships are welcome to apply for the Pre-University awards. Candidates who are not short-listed for the scholarships may be considered for the Merit Awards.

Eligibility

Students who meet the following criteria are invited to apply for the scholarship:

1. Nationals of Malaysia
2. Born in 1994 — 1996
3. Currently in Form 5 (or equivalent) or have taken the 2011 SPM / GCE O-Level Examination
4. Have done consistently well in their school examinations
5. Proficiency in English and a good record of participation in co-curricular activities would be an advantage

CLICK TO GO TO MINISTRY OF EDUCATION SINGAPORE

The Khazanah Global Scholarship is a prestigious award that offers opportunities for bright and high-achieving Malaysians to pursue Undergraduate and Postgraduate studies at selected leading universities around the world. In addition, recipients of the Khazanah Global Scholarship are provided with leadership trainings and job attachments at leading organisations in Malaysia.

The trainings, job attachments and exposures, and the facility to gain professional experience at leading corporations in the world represent opportunities that we provide in our quest to nurture our scholars to realise their potential to become Malaysia’s future business and industry leaders.

The duration of the scholarship will be for the full course of study, as stipulated in the offer of admission, subject to Yayasan Khazanah’s terms and conditions.

The scholarship is open to all Malaysians planning to pursue or are currently pursuing undergraduate and postgraduate studies at top universities in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia.

Khazanah Global Scholarship Programme

Every year, Shell offers a number of scholarships to support students in achieving their personal goals and ambitions.

Malaysian students planning to pursue full-time undergraduate studies (1st degree course) tenable at recognised universities in Malaysia or Overseas are eligible to apply.

Also on offer are 2 post-graduate scholarships at Universiti Teknologi Petronas.

Applications for the Shell Malaysia Scholarships 2012 are now open.

Disabled students are encouraged to apply.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO SHELL SCHOLARSHIP PAGE

After SPM?

What would you do after SPM? There are actually many choices.

Take STPM: For those in STAR you will need to transfer school since STAR does not have Form Six. There are a number of schools offering Form Six in Kuala Lumpur including the Victoria Institution. One of my sons went there after Form Five. But STPM is not a chicken ride, accoding to one teacher it is one of the toughest school examinations in the world. I can't verify this since I never sat for STPM.

Matriculation College: This is easiest passport to universities. There are about 15 government-funded matriculation colleges (including 2 managed by MARA) in the country and they offer matriculation courses from one year to two years in three streams; technical, science and accounting.

Since these are government-funded colleges, they pay you for attending. It used to be RM1,000 per semester but I don't know the figure right now.

To know more about matriculation, click HERE 

Besides Ministry of Education and MARA, you can apply for matriculation courses at various other universities like University Malaya, UTP etc. Normally university matriculation is much tougher to get in, sometimes you need 8 straight As to get in.

Overseas: If you are good, you may be chosen for overseas colleges. MARA offers scholarships for overseas colleges but you need to do your A-level or IB locally. JPA also offers overseas scholarships but since they are based on merit, they are quite tough to get. There are other organizations (governmental or otherwise that offer overseas scholarships) including PETRONAS and we will include them under scholarship section.

Diploma At IPTA: It used to be a popular choice for school-leavers. But I don't recommend this. It's much better for you to do matriculation than to do a diploma. Previously, UITM offered only diploma couses but later on they added Advanced Diploma but now they offer degree courses besides diploma. UPM and UTM were also popular for diploma courses at one time. After SPM, I went to UITM but I did an external course (not a diploma) so when I joined a government agency they put me as an A officer - the same as those with degrees. If you have a diploma, if you join a government service, you will join with a lower pay and lower grade. For private sector, most will offer you only technician position if you have an engineering diploma and a book-keeper if you have an accounting diploma. With the high number of unmeployed graduates, diploma holders will be at a disadvantage.

Technical Colleges: There are many technical colleges which offer hands-on experience for those too tired of academic slugging. The best are BMI and GMI - both managed by MARA. Most oil and gas companies give priority to those from BMI and GMI. A nephew of mine graduated from BMI with a diploma and he's earning tens of thousands of ringgit a month as a technician with an oil contractor in Iraq. Most multinationals prefer BMI or GMI graduates for technical posts compared to those from local polytechnics or other institutions. But it is your choice, you can choose from MARA-managed technical colleges to polytechnics to Institut kemahiran if your SPM results are not that good. 

Get A Job: It's up to you. But this ought to be your last choice. You can get up to RM1,000 a month but who can live on RM1,000 nowadays.