The Pakatan Harapan government should review the current mechanism of disbursing financial aid to tertiary students and come up with a better policy, the coalition’s chief secretary Saifuddin Abdullah said today.

Among the issues he urged Harapan to look into were the number of government scholarships offered annually, the issuance of overseas scholarships for specific fields of study, and the amount of living expenses students were receiving as part of their study aid.

“These are hard questions that we need to address, we need to have a policy on this as quickly as possible.

“(Specifically), we need a new policy on Public Service Department scholarships, we need to do it quickly before the September intake (for some universities),” he told a press conference at the Bersatu headquarters in Petaling Jaya.

Saifuddin said he was confident that the new education minister Maszlee Malik, an academic by profession, would be able to “expedite a new policy” to address this issue.

Prior to joining PKR in 2015, Saifuddin was formerly a deputy minister for higher education in the BN administration.

Whether he will assume any official role in the current Harapan government is as yet uncertain.

More scholarships for local unis

Rather than send students to foreign universities, Saifuddin urged the government to consider offering more scholarships for local universities.

“It might not be the best thing to send all students overseas, we can look at local universities (as well).

“Maybe we should be sending students overseas for specific postgraduate courses and if necessary, some very specialised undergraduate courses,” he said.

Saifuddin, the Indera Mahkota MP, also hoped that agencies traditionally responsible for disbursing scholarships, like the PSD and Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara), would be given additional funds to facilitate more applications.

Since 2016, agencies like the PSD have drastically reduced the number of scholarships for foreign universities, citing budget constraints.

Saifuddin further urged the government to regulate “agents” who offer to facilitate scholarship applications for students for a fee.

“I personally don’t think we need agents, I am very concerned about the role of agents,” he added.

Students seek help to study abroad

Earlier, a group of students had sought Saifuddin’s help to lobby the government for financial aid to enable them to study abroad.

Led by 18-year-old Edmund Kong, they claim to represent some 80 students who have received their offer letters from PSD-recognised 'top 50' foreign universities for a 2018 intake, and are in need of scholarships.

In response, Saifuddin held a meeting with them along with representatives from the Education Ministry, PSD and Mara.

“The agencies were kind enough to accept the (students’) applications and said they will look at them on a case-by-case basis,” he said.

Kong urged other students who are facing the same predicament and are interested in being part of their petition to get in touch with him via email.