The activities of Malaysians students oversees will be 'closely' monitored via 11 Malaysian Student Departments (MSDs), the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Higher Education Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Dr Adham Baba said the MSDs would be located in major cities with high concentration of Malaysian students, such as London, Sydney, Jakarta and Wellington.

"Three other MSDs are located in the United States - in Washington D C, Los Angeles and Chicago - while the rest are in Cairo (Egypt), Ottawa (Canada), Aman (Jordan) and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia)," he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

Adham said this in reply to a supplementary question from Ismail Sabri Yaakob (BN-Bera).

He said each MSD officer would be responsible for looking after the students' welfare, providing facilities and assistance as well as compiling up-to-date information on their activities and academic progress.

"It is the ministry's aim to not only closely monitor Malaysian students overseas but to be close to them for the duration of their studies," he said.

Previously, Malaysian students abroad have complained that the MSDs acted as the 'eyes and ears' of the ruling party.

Allegations of being warned against participating in pro-opposition activities and threats of having their scholarships revoked have also surfaced.

US visas

Earlier, in reply to a question from Baharum Mohamed (BN-Sekijang), Adham said the Sept 11 terrorist attack had not affected the chances of Malaysian students, especially Muslims, getting government loans or scholarships to study in western countries including the US.

He said the Malaysian government had managed to get the necessary visas for some of the Malaysian students who had problems getting visas to the US.

To a supplementary question from Liow Tiong Lai (BN-Bentong) on whether the government was still sending students for further studies in the US, Adham said in view of the recent difficulty in getting visas to the US for some students, "the emphasis is now on sending them to Australia, the United Kingdom and other European countries, as well as the Middle East."

He said the number of Malaysian students overseas now stood at 36,336.