JOHOR BARU: Malaysia is not a distributor of fake or express PhDs.
Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said there was no indication or report of public or private higher education institutions being involved in such unscrupulous activity.
Festive get-together: Mohamed Khaled talking to MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat while Pasir Gudang MCA division chief Tan Cher Puk looks on during the Raya open house in Taman Johor Jaya multipurpose hall yesterday.
“Our records show that no lecturers in local institutions are using the so-called fake or express PhDs,” he told reporters after hosting a Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house in the Taman Johor Jaya multi-purpose hall yesterday.
He was responding to a statement by Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim that the buying of PhDs would reflect badly on local institutions of higher learning.
Mohamed Khaled said he would ask Dr Rais to supply the names of the institutions and the lecturers involved if such a claim was true.
“We will not hesitate to take action against any institution or lecturer who is involved in this unscrupulous activity.
“Among the actions that can be taken are suspending their permit or licence,” he said.
On another issue, Mohamed Kha-led announced that the permanent campus for the National Defence University would be located in Kuala Lumpur.
He said the ministry was working towards intellectual development at the university compared to developing it physically.
“We are currently constructing buildings to house various faculties at the university.
“We will consider many aspects before deciding to move the main campus to a new location,” he added.
However, Mohamed Khaled admitted that the Pahang government had offered land to build a new campus.
“We must consider a lot of things before making a decision, including strengthening the university’s basis and performance,” he said.
By FARIK ZOLKEPLI
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Tiada PhD palsu di IPTA / IPTS
JOHOR BAHRU 27 Sept. - Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi mengesahkan tiada institusi pengajian tinggi (IPT) di negara ini sama ada awam atau swasta yang terlibat dalam mengeluarkan Ijazah Doktor Falsafah (Ph.D) ekspres atau palsu.
Bagaimanapun Menterinya, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin meminta Menteri Penerangan, Komunikasi dan Kebudayaan, Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim yang membuat dakwaan tersebut agar memberikan nama universiti dan pensyarah yang terlibat supaya tindakan tegas boleh diambiljika ia benar-benar berlaku.
"Apa yang saya tahu dan laporan yang saya terima, tidak ada satu pun perkara seperti itu berlaku di dalam negara kita.
"Tiada IPT di negara ini yang terlibat dalam pengeluaran Ph.D ekspres ataupun palsu begitu juga pensyarah yang memiliki Ph.D palsu mengajar di IPT negara kita," katanya ketika ditemui pada majlis Rumah Terbuka Aidilfitri Parlimen Pasir Gudang di di sini hari ini.
Baru-baru ini Rais mendakwa berlakunya pemalsuan kelulusan seperti ijazah sarjana dan Ph.D secara berleluasa di negara ini dan kegiatan membeli gelaran sosial semakin serius yang jika tidak ditangani akan melahirkan satu generasi 'ilmuwan palsu.'
Mohamed Khaled yang juga Ahli Parlimen Pasir Gudang berkata, prosedur pengambilan dan pelantikan pensyarah dan tenaga akademik di sesebuah institusi pengajian tinggi adalah ketat.
Bagaimanapun beliau menegaskan, pihaknya tidak akan berkompromi dengan universiti atau pensyarah yang didapati terlibat dengan kegiatan tersebut.
Sementara itu Mohamed Khaled berkata, kampus tetap Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) akan kekal di Kuala Lumpur buat masa ini kerana dalam Rancangan Malaysia Kesepuluh (RMK-10), kementerian lebih fokus pada pembangunan intelektual di dalam universiti berbanding pembangunan fizikal.
"Kita sedang membina bangunan-bangunan baru di kampus UPNM di Kuala Lumpur untuk menempatkan fakulti-fakulti mereka. Sama ada perlu atau tidak kampus baru, kita tunggu sampai masanya.
"Kita akan mengambil kira pelbagai aspek sebelum membuat keputusan sama ia akan dipindahkan ke kawasan yang baru atau terus kekal di Kuala Lumpur," katanya.
Mengulas kenyataan Timbalan Menterinya, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah mengenai kampus tetap UPNM yang akan dibina di Kuantan dalam RMK-10, Mohamed Khaled mengakui bahawa kerajaan negeri Pahang ada menawarkan tanah bagi tujuan tersebut.
Tetapi kata Mohamed Khaled, pihak kementerian perlu melihat pelbagai aspek termasuk UPNM perlu mempunyai landasan yang kukuh sebagai sebuah universiti baru.
"Dalam pada itu, universiti berkenaan juga perlu memantapkan kedudukan daripada aspek akademik dan pembelajarannya," katanya.
Oleh HANIZA HASSAN
utusanjohor@utusan.com.my
Bagaimanapun Menterinya, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin meminta Menteri Penerangan, Komunikasi dan Kebudayaan, Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim yang membuat dakwaan tersebut agar memberikan nama universiti dan pensyarah yang terlibat supaya tindakan tegas boleh diambiljika ia benar-benar berlaku.
"Apa yang saya tahu dan laporan yang saya terima, tidak ada satu pun perkara seperti itu berlaku di dalam negara kita.
"Tiada IPT di negara ini yang terlibat dalam pengeluaran Ph.D ekspres ataupun palsu begitu juga pensyarah yang memiliki Ph.D palsu mengajar di IPT negara kita," katanya ketika ditemui pada majlis Rumah Terbuka Aidilfitri Parlimen Pasir Gudang di di sini hari ini.
Baru-baru ini Rais mendakwa berlakunya pemalsuan kelulusan seperti ijazah sarjana dan Ph.D secara berleluasa di negara ini dan kegiatan membeli gelaran sosial semakin serius yang jika tidak ditangani akan melahirkan satu generasi 'ilmuwan palsu.'
Mohamed Khaled yang juga Ahli Parlimen Pasir Gudang berkata, prosedur pengambilan dan pelantikan pensyarah dan tenaga akademik di sesebuah institusi pengajian tinggi adalah ketat.
Bagaimanapun beliau menegaskan, pihaknya tidak akan berkompromi dengan universiti atau pensyarah yang didapati terlibat dengan kegiatan tersebut.
Sementara itu Mohamed Khaled berkata, kampus tetap Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) akan kekal di Kuala Lumpur buat masa ini kerana dalam Rancangan Malaysia Kesepuluh (RMK-10), kementerian lebih fokus pada pembangunan intelektual di dalam universiti berbanding pembangunan fizikal.
"Kita sedang membina bangunan-bangunan baru di kampus UPNM di Kuala Lumpur untuk menempatkan fakulti-fakulti mereka. Sama ada perlu atau tidak kampus baru, kita tunggu sampai masanya.
"Kita akan mengambil kira pelbagai aspek sebelum membuat keputusan sama ia akan dipindahkan ke kawasan yang baru atau terus kekal di Kuala Lumpur," katanya.
Mengulas kenyataan Timbalan Menterinya, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah mengenai kampus tetap UPNM yang akan dibina di Kuantan dalam RMK-10, Mohamed Khaled mengakui bahawa kerajaan negeri Pahang ada menawarkan tanah bagi tujuan tersebut.
Tetapi kata Mohamed Khaled, pihak kementerian perlu melihat pelbagai aspek termasuk UPNM perlu mempunyai landasan yang kukuh sebagai sebuah universiti baru.
"Dalam pada itu, universiti berkenaan juga perlu memantapkan kedudukan daripada aspek akademik dan pembelajarannya," katanya.
Oleh HANIZA HASSAN
utusanjohor@utusan.com.my
Sabah kekurangan Doktor
PAPAR 27 Sept. - Masalah kekurangan doktor di Sabah pada masa ini berada di tahap kritikal berbanding dengan jumlah penduduk di negeri ini yang semakin bertambah.
Timbalan Menteri Kesihatan, Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin berkata, jawatan doktor yang diisi di negeri ini kini hanya kira-kira 30 peratus daripada keperluan berbanding kadar pengisian nasional sebanyak 53 peratus.
"Sabah adalah antara negeri yang memang kekurangan doktor. Kita menerima hakikat itu dan dengan pengambilalihan Pusat Perubatan Sabah (SMC) dapat membantu memberi galakan kepada doktor untuk berkhidmat di negeri ini," katanya.
Beliau berkata demikian ketika ditemui pada majlis rumah terbuka beliau di Kampung Pengalat Kecil di sini semalam.
Menurut Rosnah, kerajaan sentiasa berusaha menambah bilangan doktor di negara ini selain menambah baik perkhidmatan dan infrastruktur perubatan.
Katanya, antara langkah yang sedang diambil bagi mengatasi kekurangan doktor adalah dengan mengambil doktor dari luar negara bagi menampung keperluan doktor di negara ini.
"Salah satu langkah lagi yang kita ambil adalah melatih lebih ramai doktor atau membuka lebih banyak ruang atau kuota kepada doktor tempatan untuk dilatih di universiti yang ada di Malaysia.
"Dalam masa yang sama juga kita telah memperkenalkan beberapa skim dalam kementerian bagi membantu doktor dan jururawat mendapat skim gaji yang lebih menarik," katanya.
Dalam pada itu Rosnah yang juga Ahli Parlimen Papar berkata, kerajaan juga giat menjalankan promosi bagi menarik lebih ramai doktor.
Katanya, promosi yang dijalankan bukan sahaja melalui laman web kementerian malah, kerajaan turut mendapatkan khidmat syarikat swasta untuk membantu usaha tersebut.
Oleh ABDUL RASHID ABDUL RAHMAN
pengarang@utusan.com.my
Timbalan Menteri Kesihatan, Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin berkata, jawatan doktor yang diisi di negeri ini kini hanya kira-kira 30 peratus daripada keperluan berbanding kadar pengisian nasional sebanyak 53 peratus.
"Sabah adalah antara negeri yang memang kekurangan doktor. Kita menerima hakikat itu dan dengan pengambilalihan Pusat Perubatan Sabah (SMC) dapat membantu memberi galakan kepada doktor untuk berkhidmat di negeri ini," katanya.
Beliau berkata demikian ketika ditemui pada majlis rumah terbuka beliau di Kampung Pengalat Kecil di sini semalam.
Menurut Rosnah, kerajaan sentiasa berusaha menambah bilangan doktor di negara ini selain menambah baik perkhidmatan dan infrastruktur perubatan.
Katanya, antara langkah yang sedang diambil bagi mengatasi kekurangan doktor adalah dengan mengambil doktor dari luar negara bagi menampung keperluan doktor di negara ini.
"Salah satu langkah lagi yang kita ambil adalah melatih lebih ramai doktor atau membuka lebih banyak ruang atau kuota kepada doktor tempatan untuk dilatih di universiti yang ada di Malaysia.
"Dalam masa yang sama juga kita telah memperkenalkan beberapa skim dalam kementerian bagi membantu doktor dan jururawat mendapat skim gaji yang lebih menarik," katanya.
Dalam pada itu Rosnah yang juga Ahli Parlimen Papar berkata, kerajaan juga giat menjalankan promosi bagi menarik lebih ramai doktor.
Katanya, promosi yang dijalankan bukan sahaja melalui laman web kementerian malah, kerajaan turut mendapatkan khidmat syarikat swasta untuk membantu usaha tersebut.
Oleh ABDUL RASHID ABDUL RAHMAN
pengarang@utusan.com.my
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Be a member & get the benefits! Register or login Hungarian president visits Indonesia to boost ties
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 05/21/2008 10:44 AM | World
Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom arrived in Jakarta on Monday on an official state visit to Indonesia to foster common ties, said Hungarian Ambassador to Indonesia Mih*ly Ill*s in Jakarta.
"It is President S*lyom's first visit to Indonesia," Ill*s told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
S*lyom is on a Southeast Asia tour that includes Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore.
On Wednesday, S*lyom will meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono and head of the Regional Representatives Council Ginandjar Kartasasmita. He will lay a wreath at the Kalibata National Heroes Cemetery.
"Our president will deliver a lecture on global warming, climate change and environmental protection at the University of Indonesia," Ill*s said.
The title of S*lyom's lecture will be "Mitigation of Climate Change: Duty and Opportunity".
Ill*s said the Hungarian president will witness the signing of an agreement setting out the general and financial terms, conditions and procedures for accessing Hungarian tied credits to Indonesia.
Relations, Ill*s said, between Indonesia and Hungary are excellent.
"Indonesia is considered one of the main economic partners for Hungary in the Southeast Asia region," he said.
The presidential visit comes 14 years after then Hungarian president Arp*d G*ncz visited Indonesia in September 1994. From the Indonesian side former president Megawati Soekarnoputri visited Hungary in September 2002.
Trade between Indonesia and Hungary in 2007 totaled US$114.9 million, with Indonesian exports to Budapest reaching $93.6 million and imports from Hungary at $21.3 million.
Indonesia mainly exports rubber, textile, footwear, palm oil, spices, leather. rattan, plastic products and handicrafts to Hungary while Indonesia imports pharmaceutical products, chemicals, electrical, electronic and optical products, engineering equipment and machinery.
S*lyom, an academic, was elected president of Hungary in June 2005.
Budapest Asia Center offers gateway to East European market
The Asia Center management and Indonesian business representatives signed an agreement last Friday, offering greater access for Indonesian products in the Eastern European market.
With the signing of the agreement, the Asia Center management will provide 415 square meters of space at no charge called the Indonesian Resources Pavilion, which will be specifically dedicated to Indonesian products.
""We firmly believe that the Asia Center will become a definitive facility not only for the Hungarian but the European and Far Eastern trading activities,"" Asia Center managing director Rudolf A. Riedl said.
The Asia Center itself is a business and trading complex in Budapest, Hungary, made available specifically for retail and wholesale trade for Asian products including those from Indonesia.
Riedl said that considering Hungary lies at the heart of Europe, the Asia Center in the capital city Budapest could act as the gateway for Indonesian products, especially for the eastern part of the continent.
With its accession to the European Union in 2004, Hungary became part of a unified market with a free flow of goods. Those who are doing business in the country may freely reach any other member state of the EU and may enjoy additional advantages offered by Hungary, in terms of cheap labor, favorable business environment as well as business-friendly taxation system.
The building, which stands on 205,000 square meters of land, is the largest building in Europe that incorporates the basic principles of Asian art, and especially the Chinese science of spatial arrangement or Feng Shui.
According to Riedl, his management team would assist all Indonesian traders, wanting to open businesses at the center, with administrative procedures needed including visa administration, tenant training, legal services, bookkeeping or tax advice, logistics services, customs clearance, auditing financial statements, translation and marketing services.
""We will give the best services possible,"" Riedl said.
Ita Y. Djoemhana of the Asia Center Indonesia office said that she would hand pick each and every product or brand worthy of being promoted at the Indonesian Resource Pavilion.
""What I seek is quality and sustainability of the products. Indonesia has a lot quality products but sustainability is often an issue. Therefore, for a starting point, I would prefer a company or a brand that already has experience in exports,"" she said.
Ita also mentioned that garnering the potential of SMEs products for exports was also one of her foremost targets.
""The thing about SMEs or household products is that their end-designs sometimes need a bit of retouching to meet the taste of the European market. With that in mind, I have made arrangements with an excellent design consultant for strategies to increase the value of the products,"" she said.
Ita said that within a month, two containers would be shipped to Budapest and that anyone interested in shipping their products to Hungary could contact her at the Asia Center office in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.
With the signing of the agreement, the Asia Center management will provide 415 square meters of space at no charge called the Indonesian Resources Pavilion, which will be specifically dedicated to Indonesian products.
""We firmly believe that the Asia Center will become a definitive facility not only for the Hungarian but the European and Far Eastern trading activities,"" Asia Center managing director Rudolf A. Riedl said.
The Asia Center itself is a business and trading complex in Budapest, Hungary, made available specifically for retail and wholesale trade for Asian products including those from Indonesia.
Riedl said that considering Hungary lies at the heart of Europe, the Asia Center in the capital city Budapest could act as the gateway for Indonesian products, especially for the eastern part of the continent.
With its accession to the European Union in 2004, Hungary became part of a unified market with a free flow of goods. Those who are doing business in the country may freely reach any other member state of the EU and may enjoy additional advantages offered by Hungary, in terms of cheap labor, favorable business environment as well as business-friendly taxation system.
The building, which stands on 205,000 square meters of land, is the largest building in Europe that incorporates the basic principles of Asian art, and especially the Chinese science of spatial arrangement or Feng Shui.
According to Riedl, his management team would assist all Indonesian traders, wanting to open businesses at the center, with administrative procedures needed including visa administration, tenant training, legal services, bookkeeping or tax advice, logistics services, customs clearance, auditing financial statements, translation and marketing services.
""We will give the best services possible,"" Riedl said.
Ita Y. Djoemhana of the Asia Center Indonesia office said that she would hand pick each and every product or brand worthy of being promoted at the Indonesian Resource Pavilion.
""What I seek is quality and sustainability of the products. Indonesia has a lot quality products but sustainability is often an issue. Therefore, for a starting point, I would prefer a company or a brand that already has experience in exports,"" she said.
Ita also mentioned that garnering the potential of SMEs products for exports was also one of her foremost targets.
""The thing about SMEs or household products is that their end-designs sometimes need a bit of retouching to meet the taste of the European market. With that in mind, I have made arrangements with an excellent design consultant for strategies to increase the value of the products,"" she said.
Ita said that within a month, two containers would be shipped to Budapest and that anyone interested in shipping their products to Hungary could contact her at the Asia Center office in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.
Hungarian envoy builds new links with RI ( Republik Indonesia)
n Indonesian film was screened recently on Hungarian TV during prime time, with subtitles. The film was Nia Dinata's famous Berbagi Suami (Love for Share). Three days ago, a Hungarian play titled The Tragedy of Man was performed by Indonesia's Teater Keliling (Roaming Theater) in Jakarta.
These two events and many others happened during the last three years because of one man. He is none other than the outgoing Hungarian Ambassador to Indonesia Mihaly Illes, a great friend of Indonesia.
"I was surprised to see the response in Hungary when the film Berbagi Suami was screened during prime time," Ambassador Illes, who submitted his credentials to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Nov. 7, 2006, told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview at his office in Jakarta.
Likewise, there was a good response from the audience when the bilingual (English and Indonesian) premiere of The Tragedy of Man, a play written by Hungarian author Imre Madach, was performed at the Usmar Ismail Hall in Jakarta last Friday. The program was organized by Illes to bid farewell to his Indonesian and foreign friends.
But Illes is not stopping there.
"I am very much impressed by your film Laskar Pelangi *Rainbow Warriors*. I know very well its director, Riri Riza. Now I am planning to translate the novel Laskar Pelangi into Hungarian," Illes said.
The film is based on renowned Indonesian novelist Andrea Hirata's book of the same name.
But the question is whether Illes can translate from Indonesian into Hungarian.
Oh yes, he can. Illes learned Indonesian from 1989 to 1991, not in Indonesia but in Russia.
Because of his language skills, Illes mingled easily with Indonesians, especially among officials, businesspeople, artists, writers, singers and thinkers.
"Knowledge of local language made my job easy," Illes said.
During the last 32 months, Illes did much to create a new chapter in bilateral relations between Hungary and Indonesia, which are now 54 years in the running.
"We have excellent relations with Indonesia at the political level. Unfortunately, our bilateral trade is rather stagnant. But we have been focusing to revive our economic links as well as cultural links in the last three years," Illes said.
The leaders of the both countries, Illes said, had exchanged visits in recent years and enjoyed close contacts with one another. Many Indonesian ministers, officials, businesspeople and artists visit Hungary and vice versa.
In the economic field, Illes admitted there were some problems that made bilateral trade rather stagnant. Geographical distance, the limited size of the Hungarian market and the current global financial crisis were the main reasons for this sluggishness.
For instance, Illes continued, the bilateral trade value rose only slightly to US$105.46 million in 2008 from $105.30 million in 2007.
"Despite trade stagnation, surprisingly there is a growing interest among Hungarian investors to invest in Indonesia, the biggest economy in Southeast Asia," Illes said.
At least four Hungarian companies are in the process of investing a total of $50 million in various sectors such as energy, fisheries, coal mining, oil and gas and biofuels, thanks to the efforts of the Hungarian Embassy in Jakarta and the Indonesian Embassy in Budapest.
"You know, Hungary and most other European countries are currently facing a severe financial crisis. Yet more and more Hungarian companies want to invest in Indonesia. They realize the potential of Indonesia. This is a good sign and new trend," Illes said.
Hungary also generously contributed around $4 million for the reconstruction of the tsunami-ravaged Aceh province. Last year, Hungary provided a $10 million loan on easy terms for a water purification program.
During his stay in Jakarta, Illes has focused more on enhancing people-to-people contacts.
"As a result, people from the House of Representatives, Constitutional Court, Public Works Ministry, Kadin *Chamber of Commerce and Industry* and numerous cultural groups visited Hungary," Illes said.
Even Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo visited Budapest recently to sign a sister-city agreement with Budapest.
When asked about his impression of the Indonesian people, Illes described them as friendly people.
"I like Indonesia very much, ever since I learned Indonesian in Russia. Since then, I always wanted to work here. Finally my dream came true. The Indonesian people are very friendly and gentle. I like them very much," Illes said.
His stay may be shorter in Jakarta, but Illes will be remembered forever for one thing.
"I wrote numerous articles about Indonesian authors and poets in Hungarian literary magazines. We started a program under which Indonesian writers can stay for a certain period in Hungary and they can translate Hungarian literature. We have already sent several Indonesian writers to Hungary.
"The result was very good," Illes said.
Though his job in Indonesia might be ending this week, Illes's interaction with Indonesia will not end.
"I will be retiring by the end of this year. Then I will have a lot of time. I will certainly come back to Indonesia to meet my friends and finish my project of translating Laskar Pelangi," Illes said.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Of different Malays: The problem of boundaries
The recent mishap caused by the Discovery Channel which asserted Pendet, the Balinese dance, into Malaysian culture had re-opened an old wound of Indonesians who believe that Malaysian has stolen Indonesian cultural heritage, again and again. Rasa Sayange, angklung, and reog Ponorogo, among others. For most Indonesians, the act of Malaysian government in asserting these cultural artifacts as part of Malaysian culture is bewildering. Regular Indonesians would indisputably associate these three intangible cultural heritages with three different origins. Rasa Sayange of Ambonese/Maluku, Angklung of Sundanese, and reog of Javanese Ponorogo.
Most Malaysians, including the government of Malaysia, however, fail to see these as of different cultural lineages. They would lump them as belong to Malay (Melayu) culture.
The term Malay culture is visualized by Indonesian in reference to dances of Lilin, Randai, or Serampang Dua Belas. It does not have any direct connection to Javanese gamelan, reog, or angklung. It is directly associated with traditions and customs of the ethnic group within the boundary of the Malay peninsula. Malaysians seem to see a different boundary of Malay culture. How does this happen?
Knowledge and narratives on local culture in Indonesia are developed in association with ethnic based regional boundaries. They are endorsed by the state and they are part of nation building. Since elementary school, Indonesian kids have learned about national heritage by memorizing names of dances, melodies of folk-songs, and visual representations of traditional costumes. Practices of documenting and selecting material artifacts of local cultures are part of the larger political process of inclusion that stresses nationalism and the national unity of Indonesia. Selective preservation of regional and/or local art forms, in constructing the ‘national culture’, is, therefore, part of the politics of exclusion.
Indonesia surely has its own problems in constructing, deconstructing, and reconstructing local and national cultures — which while deserves an attention, is not the topic of this article.
Recognizing this pitfall, however, ways in which local culture is framed in Indonesia are much less crude than those in Malaysia. It is still assigned and identified with a certain cultural context/geographical (of origin). While being partial and reductionist, multifarious contexts and diverse locales still have some space in the narrative of Indonesian national culture.
Malaysia adopts a different route in approaching its national and local cultures. The modern nation-state of Malaysia frames national culture by clustering cultural artifacts into cultures of Malay, Chinese, Indian and indigenous tribes (orang asli). The term Malay here, differs than that of Indonesia, refers to and is influenced by several concepts.
First, as enacted in the term ‘Malay is Muslim, Muslim is Malay’, it is a form of ethno-religion. It is entangled with the concept of ethnic nationalism that has become today’s Malaysia’s dominant state-religion relations in which the state is fused to a particular ethnic group and religion functions as a signifier of ethnic identity. Any Javanese, Acehnese, or just any Indonesians, migrate to Malaysia will be classified as ‘Malay’ and they are (supposed to be) Muslims. Chinese Indonesians, though, can box themselves to ‘Chinese’ thus do not have to be Muslim.
Second, it is used in association with Malay race (bangsa Melayu) instead of Malay ethnicity (suku Melayu). This concept is originated in Blumenbach’s racial classification system which divide the world’s races into the prime race-Caucasian/white race, the Mongolian/yellow race, the Malayan/brown race, the American/red race, and the Negroid or black race.
His human-skulls-based concept has been rejected by many anthropologists recognizing the enormous complexity of classifying races.
He considered the inhabitants of Southeast Asia, including the Marianas, the Philippines, the Malukus, Sundas, as well as Pacific Islands as Malayan. Blumenbach wrote: “Malay variety. Tawny-coloured; hair black, soft, curly, thick and plentiful; head moderately narrowed; forehead slightly swelling; nose full ..”
The concept Malay race is also a historical heritage of colonialism. European planters and British officials in Malaysia were keen to obtain laborers from the Dutch East Indies as they were regarded as better suited to climate and would assimilate more easily with the local Malays. Indonesian migrants were viewed as originating from the same racial stocks as the Malays, regardless their ethnicities. In the early colonial Malaysia, the Straits Settlements censuses of 1871 and 1881 both listed Malay, Achinese, Andamanese, Boyanese, Bugis and Javanese separately. In 1891 census, however, there were major structural changes in the classification of ethnicities.
The forty-eight different ethnicities were sorted under the major (hierarchical) classifications of ‘European and Americans’, ‘Eurasian’, ‘Chinese’, ‘Malays and other Natives of the archipelago’, ‘Tamils and other Natives of India’ and ‘Other Races.’ The creation of the category of ‘Malay and other Natives of the Archipelago’ and the inclusions of the various ethnicities in it contributed toward formalizing the boundaries of Malayness. The modern nation-state Malaysia cultivates this heavily politicized classification by clustering Malaysians into ‘Malays’, ‘Chinese’, ‘Indians’, and ‘indigenous tribes’.
Tracing the origin of the term ‘Malay’ used in Malaysian context, we thus can understand that the Malaysian version of Malay is more a product of political reconstruction (of colonialism and a modern ethnic-nationalism) and is rooted in the politics of race and identity rather than the geographical boundary of origin.
As people move around globally, cultures flow in all directions. Tracing histories and origins (of culture), thus is always a complicated task. Lumping various artifacts together into one Malay culture whose boundary is heavily politicized is certainly not the most plausible method to complete the task. It fails to recognize the complexity of cultures of the archipelago. Thus removing them from their multifarious contexts and locales; and dis-embed these cultures from the people who shape and are reshaped by them.
On another note, lessons for Indonesia, it is time for the government to recognize and appreciate local cultures not by treating them as mere symbols to justify the ‘unity and diversity’ but by supporting and caring for people who work tirelessly in preserving and maintaining these cultures. (By Merlyna Lim).
(Re-published with permission. Prof Lim is an Indonesian professor researching and teaching at the Consortium of Science, Policy and Outcomes and School of Social Transformation (Justice and Social Inquiry program) at Arizona State University. She is also a prolific academic writer as well as a notable blogger.)
Most Malaysians, including the government of Malaysia, however, fail to see these as of different cultural lineages. They would lump them as belong to Malay (Melayu) culture.
The term Malay culture is visualized by Indonesian in reference to dances of Lilin, Randai, or Serampang Dua Belas. It does not have any direct connection to Javanese gamelan, reog, or angklung. It is directly associated with traditions and customs of the ethnic group within the boundary of the Malay peninsula. Malaysians seem to see a different boundary of Malay culture. How does this happen?
Knowledge and narratives on local culture in Indonesia are developed in association with ethnic based regional boundaries. They are endorsed by the state and they are part of nation building. Since elementary school, Indonesian kids have learned about national heritage by memorizing names of dances, melodies of folk-songs, and visual representations of traditional costumes. Practices of documenting and selecting material artifacts of local cultures are part of the larger political process of inclusion that stresses nationalism and the national unity of Indonesia. Selective preservation of regional and/or local art forms, in constructing the ‘national culture’, is, therefore, part of the politics of exclusion.
Indonesia surely has its own problems in constructing, deconstructing, and reconstructing local and national cultures — which while deserves an attention, is not the topic of this article.
Recognizing this pitfall, however, ways in which local culture is framed in Indonesia are much less crude than those in Malaysia. It is still assigned and identified with a certain cultural context/geographical (of origin). While being partial and reductionist, multifarious contexts and diverse locales still have some space in the narrative of Indonesian national culture.
Malaysia adopts a different route in approaching its national and local cultures. The modern nation-state of Malaysia frames national culture by clustering cultural artifacts into cultures of Malay, Chinese, Indian and indigenous tribes (orang asli). The term Malay here, differs than that of Indonesia, refers to and is influenced by several concepts.
First, as enacted in the term ‘Malay is Muslim, Muslim is Malay’, it is a form of ethno-religion. It is entangled with the concept of ethnic nationalism that has become today’s Malaysia’s dominant state-religion relations in which the state is fused to a particular ethnic group and religion functions as a signifier of ethnic identity. Any Javanese, Acehnese, or just any Indonesians, migrate to Malaysia will be classified as ‘Malay’ and they are (supposed to be) Muslims. Chinese Indonesians, though, can box themselves to ‘Chinese’ thus do not have to be Muslim.
Second, it is used in association with Malay race (bangsa Melayu) instead of Malay ethnicity (suku Melayu). This concept is originated in Blumenbach’s racial classification system which divide the world’s races into the prime race-Caucasian/white race, the Mongolian/yellow race, the Malayan/brown race, the American/red race, and the Negroid or black race.
His human-skulls-based concept has been rejected by many anthropologists recognizing the enormous complexity of classifying races.
He considered the inhabitants of Southeast Asia, including the Marianas, the Philippines, the Malukus, Sundas, as well as Pacific Islands as Malayan. Blumenbach wrote: “Malay variety. Tawny-coloured; hair black, soft, curly, thick and plentiful; head moderately narrowed; forehead slightly swelling; nose full ..”
The concept Malay race is also a historical heritage of colonialism. European planters and British officials in Malaysia were keen to obtain laborers from the Dutch East Indies as they were regarded as better suited to climate and would assimilate more easily with the local Malays. Indonesian migrants were viewed as originating from the same racial stocks as the Malays, regardless their ethnicities. In the early colonial Malaysia, the Straits Settlements censuses of 1871 and 1881 both listed Malay, Achinese, Andamanese, Boyanese, Bugis and Javanese separately. In 1891 census, however, there were major structural changes in the classification of ethnicities.
The forty-eight different ethnicities were sorted under the major (hierarchical) classifications of ‘European and Americans’, ‘Eurasian’, ‘Chinese’, ‘Malays and other Natives of the archipelago’, ‘Tamils and other Natives of India’ and ‘Other Races.’ The creation of the category of ‘Malay and other Natives of the Archipelago’ and the inclusions of the various ethnicities in it contributed toward formalizing the boundaries of Malayness. The modern nation-state Malaysia cultivates this heavily politicized classification by clustering Malaysians into ‘Malays’, ‘Chinese’, ‘Indians’, and ‘indigenous tribes’.
Tracing the origin of the term ‘Malay’ used in Malaysian context, we thus can understand that the Malaysian version of Malay is more a product of political reconstruction (of colonialism and a modern ethnic-nationalism) and is rooted in the politics of race and identity rather than the geographical boundary of origin.
As people move around globally, cultures flow in all directions. Tracing histories and origins (of culture), thus is always a complicated task. Lumping various artifacts together into one Malay culture whose boundary is heavily politicized is certainly not the most plausible method to complete the task. It fails to recognize the complexity of cultures of the archipelago. Thus removing them from their multifarious contexts and locales; and dis-embed these cultures from the people who shape and are reshaped by them.
On another note, lessons for Indonesia, it is time for the government to recognize and appreciate local cultures not by treating them as mere symbols to justify the ‘unity and diversity’ but by supporting and caring for people who work tirelessly in preserving and maintaining these cultures. (By Merlyna Lim).
(Re-published with permission. Prof Lim is an Indonesian professor researching and teaching at the Consortium of Science, Policy and Outcomes and School of Social Transformation (Justice and Social Inquiry program) at Arizona State University. She is also a prolific academic writer as well as a notable blogger.)
The stolen Indonesian culture
By Mario Rustan/The Jakarta Post/ANN
2009-09-10 10:57
At first I thought it was a slow news day. When a news program was broadcasting an item titled “Indonesian culture robbed by Malaysia”, I watched it in mute mode, admiring scenes of Chinese girls eating laksa and going shopping, in another Malaysia tourism video.
The next day, the stealing claim seemed justified. The stolen culture in question was the Pendet dance from Bali, which in no way would reach Malaysia through shared Malayan culture or through Javanese and Bugis migrants.
Until today, voices condemning Malaysia are still being aired, with professors and political scientists saying Malaysia has no indigenous culture and thus has some sort of inferiority complex, and thus is stealing Indonesian culture. Furthermore, many learned Indonesians sneer at Malaysia’s tourism slogan, “Truly Asia,” saying that it’s nonsense and proves that Malaysia has no true identity.
This newspaper, however, pointed out that “Truly Asia” means that Malaysia is a one-stop destination for tourists wishing to see Southeast Asian, Chinese and Indian cultures. Some Indonesian condemners may still be unaware of Malaysia’s multiple-ethnicities, while others may deliberately ignore it and feel more comfortable with the view that Malaysia is a Malay nation. As for the Pendet case, it turns out the video was made by a private production house that just copied and pasted several fun tourism images, without any intention of malice.
I found proof about the “Truly Asia” slogan on my arrival at Kuala Lumpur: The taxi got lost and I couldn’t get through to my friend’s phone — at sunrise on an empty suburban road. I tried to ask for directions from several strangers. The first one were an elderly Chinese couple who didn’t speak English or Malay. The second were a couple of Indian garbage men who spoke broken English. The Malay taxi driver preferred to talk in English as our Malay dialects were incomprehensible to each other.
Finally he got the address from a Malay youth. I found the house in time for breakfast, ready to feast on wonderful Malaysian food, especially Chinese peranakan dishes, such as laksa and nasi lemak, and Indian drinks like teh tarik and susu bandung.
Many Indonesians in Malaysia must consume an unfunny old joke. In the courtyard before the Petronas Tower one night, my host said we should avoid the dark spots otherwise we could be robbed by “your countrymen.”
This newspaper had received some complaints from Malaysians that said the Indonesian media and people never talked about the violent crimes carried out by Indonesians in Malaysia. We retaliated by pointing out that Noordin M. Top is a Malaysian national, and some have even gone so far to suggest that he was planted by the Malaysian government to ruin the Indonesian tourism industry.
In fact, there is no culture war and no tourism war between Malaysia and Indonesia. Malaysia’s biggest rival in attracting tourists is Singapore, and thus Malaysia’s promos offer similar things that Singapore offers – vibrant nightlife, glorious food, Formula 1 racing and great shopping experiences. Do our tourism promos cover those things? Malaysians count Singapore as their dreadful rival, and hardly think of Indonesia, which is on a different class.
Indonesia’s hatred for Malaysia has been around since the 1960s, probably earlier. Malaysia is the political opposite of Indonesia. It had good relations with its British colonizer, it is a federation, a parliamentary monarchy, and it is never interested in socialism. After peace returned with the creation of the ASEAN bloc, both governments tried to convince the people that Indonesians and Malaysians were brothers of the same stock.
This effort held until the 21st century, when Malaysian economic progress left Indonesian behind, and more learned Indonesians are embracing Sukarno-style zero-sum nationalism. The real story is still the same after 40 years — distract one’s woes by creating and hating a foreign enemy.
As often stressed by other writers, some cultural items that we have claimed were “robbed” by Malaysia are not exclusively Indonesian. Batik is a common throughout Southeast Asia, and a top batik brand wrote in its coffee table book that batik had been influenced for centuries by Chinese, Indian, Arabic, European and Japanese designs.
Musical instruments like the angklung and gamelan are also common throughout Southeast Asia.
Wayang is hardly Indonesian — the hide puppets originated from mainland SE Asia, and there are similar storytelling arts in China, Japan and Europe. When Miss Indonesia dressed as Srikandi, she dressed as a Hindu — and Indian — character still revered religiously in India and Malaysia.
As for the disputed isles, I think it’s ridiculous if white collar men in Jakarta could get upset reading the news about Ambalat, and yet the next minute they are making backstabbing remarks about fellow Indonesians from outside Java. Disputed territories are hardly unique — Japanese and Koreans fight over a rock and on the naming of the sea between their nation and Cambodia had an anti-Thai riot because of a temple located nearby the modern borderlines.
We claim Malaysia has an inferiority complex, and yet the problem is our own. Of course, Malaysia is guilty of ignorance and laziness in making its tourism commercials, but it’s pointless and confusing to dwell on one objectionable frame and continue to fuss about it.
We accuse Malaysia of disrespecting us because deep inside we feel that our supposed “brother” has left us behind with its decent standard of living, global brands (e.g. Air Asia, Maxis, Petronas and Michelle Yeoh) and good investment reputation. Russians have had similar problems with former USSR states, and Chinese netizens have grudges with the Japanese and Americans. In all three cases, past history is always offered for justification of hatred, as we’re closing in to 2010.
But Malaysia is also having similar internal strife. As its Chinese and Indian populations become more politically involved, harassment and foul plays also increase. Malaysian politicians have become increasingly comical and ridiculous in acting as defenders of Muslims and Malays, and its political and religious freedoms are far below Indonesia.
Flying the Indonesian flag on your product and wallpaper, while condemning Malaysia on your Twitter and T-shirt, won’t solve anything. Malaysia never thinks about those tourism commercials and they know that Noordin M. Top is a Malaysian hiding in Indonesia because he couldn’t survive in Malaysia.
We can accept that the crime rate in Indonesia is high — so it makes sense that many Indonesians in Malaysia are involved in violent crimes.
If you want more tourists to visit Indonesia, stop sending the message that you dislike foreigners. If you want Pertamina to become a global brand like Petronas, and to have Formula One held in Indonesia, study and follow their steps. If you find an item on the Internet demeaning Indonesia, ignore it and move on with your own priorities. Stop getting so angry about trivial things so easily when we have potential to do great things for ourselves.
2009-09-10 10:57
At first I thought it was a slow news day. When a news program was broadcasting an item titled “Indonesian culture robbed by Malaysia”, I watched it in mute mode, admiring scenes of Chinese girls eating laksa and going shopping, in another Malaysia tourism video.
The next day, the stealing claim seemed justified. The stolen culture in question was the Pendet dance from Bali, which in no way would reach Malaysia through shared Malayan culture or through Javanese and Bugis migrants.
Until today, voices condemning Malaysia are still being aired, with professors and political scientists saying Malaysia has no indigenous culture and thus has some sort of inferiority complex, and thus is stealing Indonesian culture. Furthermore, many learned Indonesians sneer at Malaysia’s tourism slogan, “Truly Asia,” saying that it’s nonsense and proves that Malaysia has no true identity.
This newspaper, however, pointed out that “Truly Asia” means that Malaysia is a one-stop destination for tourists wishing to see Southeast Asian, Chinese and Indian cultures. Some Indonesian condemners may still be unaware of Malaysia’s multiple-ethnicities, while others may deliberately ignore it and feel more comfortable with the view that Malaysia is a Malay nation. As for the Pendet case, it turns out the video was made by a private production house that just copied and pasted several fun tourism images, without any intention of malice.
I found proof about the “Truly Asia” slogan on my arrival at Kuala Lumpur: The taxi got lost and I couldn’t get through to my friend’s phone — at sunrise on an empty suburban road. I tried to ask for directions from several strangers. The first one were an elderly Chinese couple who didn’t speak English or Malay. The second were a couple of Indian garbage men who spoke broken English. The Malay taxi driver preferred to talk in English as our Malay dialects were incomprehensible to each other.
Finally he got the address from a Malay youth. I found the house in time for breakfast, ready to feast on wonderful Malaysian food, especially Chinese peranakan dishes, such as laksa and nasi lemak, and Indian drinks like teh tarik and susu bandung.
Many Indonesians in Malaysia must consume an unfunny old joke. In the courtyard before the Petronas Tower one night, my host said we should avoid the dark spots otherwise we could be robbed by “your countrymen.”
This newspaper had received some complaints from Malaysians that said the Indonesian media and people never talked about the violent crimes carried out by Indonesians in Malaysia. We retaliated by pointing out that Noordin M. Top is a Malaysian national, and some have even gone so far to suggest that he was planted by the Malaysian government to ruin the Indonesian tourism industry.
In fact, there is no culture war and no tourism war between Malaysia and Indonesia. Malaysia’s biggest rival in attracting tourists is Singapore, and thus Malaysia’s promos offer similar things that Singapore offers – vibrant nightlife, glorious food, Formula 1 racing and great shopping experiences. Do our tourism promos cover those things? Malaysians count Singapore as their dreadful rival, and hardly think of Indonesia, which is on a different class.
Indonesia’s hatred for Malaysia has been around since the 1960s, probably earlier. Malaysia is the political opposite of Indonesia. It had good relations with its British colonizer, it is a federation, a parliamentary monarchy, and it is never interested in socialism. After peace returned with the creation of the ASEAN bloc, both governments tried to convince the people that Indonesians and Malaysians were brothers of the same stock.
This effort held until the 21st century, when Malaysian economic progress left Indonesian behind, and more learned Indonesians are embracing Sukarno-style zero-sum nationalism. The real story is still the same after 40 years — distract one’s woes by creating and hating a foreign enemy.
As often stressed by other writers, some cultural items that we have claimed were “robbed” by Malaysia are not exclusively Indonesian. Batik is a common throughout Southeast Asia, and a top batik brand wrote in its coffee table book that batik had been influenced for centuries by Chinese, Indian, Arabic, European and Japanese designs.
Musical instruments like the angklung and gamelan are also common throughout Southeast Asia.
Wayang is hardly Indonesian — the hide puppets originated from mainland SE Asia, and there are similar storytelling arts in China, Japan and Europe. When Miss Indonesia dressed as Srikandi, she dressed as a Hindu — and Indian — character still revered religiously in India and Malaysia.
As for the disputed isles, I think it’s ridiculous if white collar men in Jakarta could get upset reading the news about Ambalat, and yet the next minute they are making backstabbing remarks about fellow Indonesians from outside Java. Disputed territories are hardly unique — Japanese and Koreans fight over a rock and on the naming of the sea between their nation and Cambodia had an anti-Thai riot because of a temple located nearby the modern borderlines.
We claim Malaysia has an inferiority complex, and yet the problem is our own. Of course, Malaysia is guilty of ignorance and laziness in making its tourism commercials, but it’s pointless and confusing to dwell on one objectionable frame and continue to fuss about it.
We accuse Malaysia of disrespecting us because deep inside we feel that our supposed “brother” has left us behind with its decent standard of living, global brands (e.g. Air Asia, Maxis, Petronas and Michelle Yeoh) and good investment reputation. Russians have had similar problems with former USSR states, and Chinese netizens have grudges with the Japanese and Americans. In all three cases, past history is always offered for justification of hatred, as we’re closing in to 2010.
But Malaysia is also having similar internal strife. As its Chinese and Indian populations become more politically involved, harassment and foul plays also increase. Malaysian politicians have become increasingly comical and ridiculous in acting as defenders of Muslims and Malays, and its political and religious freedoms are far below Indonesia.
Flying the Indonesian flag on your product and wallpaper, while condemning Malaysia on your Twitter and T-shirt, won’t solve anything. Malaysia never thinks about those tourism commercials and they know that Noordin M. Top is a Malaysian hiding in Indonesia because he couldn’t survive in Malaysia.
We can accept that the crime rate in Indonesia is high — so it makes sense that many Indonesians in Malaysia are involved in violent crimes.
If you want more tourists to visit Indonesia, stop sending the message that you dislike foreigners. If you want Pertamina to become a global brand like Petronas, and to have Formula One held in Indonesia, study and follow their steps. If you find an item on the Internet demeaning Indonesia, ignore it and move on with your own priorities. Stop getting so angry about trivial things so easily when we have potential to do great things for ourselves.
Monday, September 7, 2009
5 Essential Elements of a Great Scholarship Application
Okay, after going through the various types of scholarships you’ve completed your scholarship search and finally narrowed down your options to a selected few scholarships that completely suit your needs. Now the next step is to develop a first class scholarship application. In order to create a great scholarship application, the first thing you need to do is get organized. Start out with creating a file and start compiling copies of all the work you have submitted. Secondly, start making your resume.
Your resume should list details of your high school career, work experience and any social groups you belong to. Next, you sort all the scholarships available according to the scholarship application due dates and finally, make a list of requirements that each scholarhips application asks for.
There are four basic elements of the scholarship application process:
# Letter(s) of recommendation
# Transcript
# Personal statement (essay)
# Activity Sheet
# Interview
The rest of the article explains in detail about the 5 essential components of the scholarship application.
Letters of Recommendation:
Most scholarships require (as part of the scholarship application process) you to submit a letter of recommendation as part of the scholarship application. This letter of recommendation can come from your high school teacher, an alumni, some prominent member of your community, or your employer. These letters are basically needed because the scholarship sponsors want to analyze your strengths and attributes from a point of view different than your own.
The first thing you should keep in mind is to make a request of a letter of recommendation early so you aren’t panicking on the time of submission of the scholarship application. It should be well before your deadline so that the person who is writing the letter of recommendation has plenty of time to write a good and strong letter. You should notify the person when the scholarship application deadline is and contact them a few times before the deadline to remind them and see how the letter is going.
When you are selecting someone to write a letter of recommendation for your scholarship application, it is a wise decision to ask someone who knows you very well and admires you for the person you are and for what you have achieved. A person who knows you well can talk about your strengths and weaknesses better and can describe your accomplishments in a proper manner as compared to someone who does not know you very well.
As part of your scholarship application, make sure that you provide information about yourself to the person who is going to write the letter of recommendation. Give them your resume, your writing samples and other documents that display your talents and abilities. Talk to the writer and discuss the kind of image you are intending to portray and which part of your personality should be emphasized. Another thing you can do in order to help the person in writing a letter of recommendation for your scholarship application is to provide a written description of the scholarship so that the writer knows what you are applying for. As mentioned before, clearly inform the writer of the deadline of your scholarship application.
Lastly, don’t forget to write a thank-you note to the person who has written the letter of recommendation for your scholarship application.
Transcript:
Often, scholarship applications require a transcript from all of the schools you have previously attended. You should request this information from all of your past educational institutions as soon as possible. Sometimes, schools charge fee to issue official transcripts. Once you have contacted your past schools and requested a transcript, call them after a couple of weeks and make sure that they have mailed the your transcript to the proper address. In case you are delivering the transcript yourself, then make sure that you let it remain sealed and do not tamper with it because it may make the transcript invalid and ruin one of the most important elements of your scholarship application.
Several scholarship committees require students to submit an essay along with their application. There are several purposes due to which the scholarship committees require an essay. One of the main reasons is that these scholarship committees want to see a sample of your writing, and that they want to get to know the applicant. Another purpose is to enable the applicants to share something about themselves that may not be reflected in the statistics and facts they have provided. The essay is also very important because it allows the applicants to express their individuality and gives the scholarship committees an opportunity to know them.
The only way students can improve their chances of being selected from a huge pool of applicants competing for scholarships is by writing a stellar personal essay as a part of their application.
The way you write your application essay distinguishes you from the other applicants. It provides information about you that your quantitative data cannot.
The application essay is a result of hard work, often requiring countless drafts and several weeks of writing and rewriting. There are many approaches to writing the essay. There are some people who can sit down for six hours before the deadline and come up with a good essay, while others have to work laboriously for months writing and rewriting before turning in the finished product.
A good essay will distinguish you from the other applicants. Reviewers looks for essays that are consistent and reflect your life experiences, commitment to education and personal characteristics. Sometimes a common experience can also be memorable and influential. You may also decide to write about your knowledge about a certain ethnic groups or about some hardships you overcame. Essays should show the depth of your accomplishment and the quality of your character. It does not depend on what experience you choose to write about as long as it is appropriate and you should elaborate on the insights you have gained from that experience and they way it has influenced your life.
The people on the scholarship committee will be looking for reasons why you would be a good candidate, and why should you be granted the scholarship. Therefore, to present yourself in the best possible light, you could start out by making your essay flawless and following all the standards and requirements.
Your essay should be typed, double spaced, and should preferably use a twelve-point font with a standard font such as Times New Roman, and the margins should be standard size. It is very much preferable if your essay length is within the given limit, but if it is longer make sure it is no longer than ten percent. Try to make your essay as clear and concise as possible. Avoid sloppiness and stylistic errors. Make sure your essay satisfies certain basic requirements; you should pay attention on answering the essay question. Answer the question directly and address all its parts. Your essay should be well organized, logical, written with flow and easy to follow. The tone should be appropriately serious, sincere and modestly confident.
The first step in writing the essay is brainstorming. It is the process of coming up with ideas spontaneously from free flowing writing or talking. To brainstorm, you can simply sit down with a pen and jot down every idea that comes into your head. Another approach is to simply start writing and see where you end up. Record as much information as you can recall, such as schools attended, courses taken, jobs held, research projects undertaken. After you have jotted down the most basic and raw information possible, work on taking yourself deeper into the introspection process by tackling more specific topics.
Once you have completed the brainstorming process, you’ll have a rough idea of what you actually want to write about. So after that, you have to select the essay topic. When selecting a topic, you should keep in mind to choose a topic that allows you to demonstrate your skills and individuality, a topic that answers the essay question while telling the reviewers what they really want to know. While deciding on the topic of your application, keep in mind that you have to keep the reader interested while at the same time, revealing something about yourself in a way that makes you an ideal applicant.
After you have selected the essay topic, get down to actual writing. The key to a good essay is revising and re-revising. Revising is an integral part of essay writing and it is only after a great amount of revising that you can come up with an excellent essay. Once the revising is done and over with, you have your final draft before you. Be sure to avoid sloppiness and poor English. Also avoid biases against any religion, sexist comments, whining and politics. And of course, be sure to keep a printed copy of your final draft.
As mentioned before, some scholarships committees ask you to provide an activity sheet. An activity sheet is simply a list of all the clubs you have belonged to, all the sports you have played, all the hobbies you have, all the awards you have gotten, all the volunteer work or paid jobs you have done et cetera. Make sure that all of these things are stated clearly on your activity sheet, some committees ask you to list them down in a chronological order while others require you to list these activities down in order of importance. The purpose of the activity sheet is that the scholarship committees want to know how much time you devote to the other things in life and how important extra curricular activities are to you. You should list down all the things that hold importance to you even if they are not organized is proper clubs or committees. The scholarship committees want to know all about your activities.
Interview:
Some scholarship committees take interviews, usually as a part of the final selection process. This is because the scholarship committees want to meet you to make sure that you are a personification of all the values and activities and academics you have discussed in your application. You can use this interview as an opportunity to talk about your interests and your plans for future education. You should dress formally and arrive at least 15 minutes before the interview is scheduled. Do not let the interview make you nervous, just remember at all times that all the scholarship committee wants to do is try to get to know you better.
FACTORS CONSIDERED IN THE SELECTION OF CANDIDATES:
There are many different scholarships and each scholarship has its own specified criteria. However, there are a few factors that are common in most scholarship applications. Those factors are listed below:
# Academic standing (class rank)
# Weighted GPA
# Standardized test scores
# Extra curricular activities
# Submitted essay
# Letters of recommendation
# Financial need
# Work experience
# School and community/civic participation
# Attendance record
# Potential for success
# Higher educational and vocational aspirations
# Written communication skills
# Character strengths (such as motivation, persistence, resourcefulness, etc.)
# Demonstrated skills, aptitudes or experience
As mentioned before, different scholarship committees look for different things. Some scholarship committees might consider your academic records and do not even ask you for your educational aspirations, while others might only consider your financial needs and not ask you for your work experience. Scholarship committees might sometimes only consider one or two of the factors listed above or sometimes, they might consider all of these factors.
FINAL WORD:
Most students seem to believe that the competition amongst people applying for scholarships is so fierce that it is only the most brilliant and outstanding students who are granted these scholarships. And due to this misconception, a lot of students fail to apply for scholarships. The truth is, that scholarships are not awarded to students who are brilliantly outstanding; it is true that some scholarships consider academic brilliance but there are a lot of scholarships that concentrate more on extra circular activities and special talents of students.
Apply to as many scholarships as you are eligible for, and make sure that you complete your application well before the deadline. Have your application proofread before you send it. Good luck!
Your resume should list details of your high school career, work experience and any social groups you belong to. Next, you sort all the scholarships available according to the scholarship application due dates and finally, make a list of requirements that each scholarhips application asks for.
There are four basic elements of the scholarship application process:
# Letter(s) of recommendation
# Transcript
# Personal statement (essay)
# Activity Sheet
# Interview
The rest of the article explains in detail about the 5 essential components of the scholarship application.
Letters of Recommendation:
Most scholarships require (as part of the scholarship application process) you to submit a letter of recommendation as part of the scholarship application. This letter of recommendation can come from your high school teacher, an alumni, some prominent member of your community, or your employer. These letters are basically needed because the scholarship sponsors want to analyze your strengths and attributes from a point of view different than your own.
The first thing you should keep in mind is to make a request of a letter of recommendation early so you aren’t panicking on the time of submission of the scholarship application. It should be well before your deadline so that the person who is writing the letter of recommendation has plenty of time to write a good and strong letter. You should notify the person when the scholarship application deadline is and contact them a few times before the deadline to remind them and see how the letter is going.
When you are selecting someone to write a letter of recommendation for your scholarship application, it is a wise decision to ask someone who knows you very well and admires you for the person you are and for what you have achieved. A person who knows you well can talk about your strengths and weaknesses better and can describe your accomplishments in a proper manner as compared to someone who does not know you very well.
As part of your scholarship application, make sure that you provide information about yourself to the person who is going to write the letter of recommendation. Give them your resume, your writing samples and other documents that display your talents and abilities. Talk to the writer and discuss the kind of image you are intending to portray and which part of your personality should be emphasized. Another thing you can do in order to help the person in writing a letter of recommendation for your scholarship application is to provide a written description of the scholarship so that the writer knows what you are applying for. As mentioned before, clearly inform the writer of the deadline of your scholarship application.
Lastly, don’t forget to write a thank-you note to the person who has written the letter of recommendation for your scholarship application.
Transcript:
Often, scholarship applications require a transcript from all of the schools you have previously attended. You should request this information from all of your past educational institutions as soon as possible. Sometimes, schools charge fee to issue official transcripts. Once you have contacted your past schools and requested a transcript, call them after a couple of weeks and make sure that they have mailed the your transcript to the proper address. In case you are delivering the transcript yourself, then make sure that you let it remain sealed and do not tamper with it because it may make the transcript invalid and ruin one of the most important elements of your scholarship application.
Several scholarship committees require students to submit an essay along with their application. There are several purposes due to which the scholarship committees require an essay. One of the main reasons is that these scholarship committees want to see a sample of your writing, and that they want to get to know the applicant. Another purpose is to enable the applicants to share something about themselves that may not be reflected in the statistics and facts they have provided. The essay is also very important because it allows the applicants to express their individuality and gives the scholarship committees an opportunity to know them.
The only way students can improve their chances of being selected from a huge pool of applicants competing for scholarships is by writing a stellar personal essay as a part of their application.
The way you write your application essay distinguishes you from the other applicants. It provides information about you that your quantitative data cannot.
The application essay is a result of hard work, often requiring countless drafts and several weeks of writing and rewriting. There are many approaches to writing the essay. There are some people who can sit down for six hours before the deadline and come up with a good essay, while others have to work laboriously for months writing and rewriting before turning in the finished product.
A good essay will distinguish you from the other applicants. Reviewers looks for essays that are consistent and reflect your life experiences, commitment to education and personal characteristics. Sometimes a common experience can also be memorable and influential. You may also decide to write about your knowledge about a certain ethnic groups or about some hardships you overcame. Essays should show the depth of your accomplishment and the quality of your character. It does not depend on what experience you choose to write about as long as it is appropriate and you should elaborate on the insights you have gained from that experience and they way it has influenced your life.
The people on the scholarship committee will be looking for reasons why you would be a good candidate, and why should you be granted the scholarship. Therefore, to present yourself in the best possible light, you could start out by making your essay flawless and following all the standards and requirements.
Your essay should be typed, double spaced, and should preferably use a twelve-point font with a standard font such as Times New Roman, and the margins should be standard size. It is very much preferable if your essay length is within the given limit, but if it is longer make sure it is no longer than ten percent. Try to make your essay as clear and concise as possible. Avoid sloppiness and stylistic errors. Make sure your essay satisfies certain basic requirements; you should pay attention on answering the essay question. Answer the question directly and address all its parts. Your essay should be well organized, logical, written with flow and easy to follow. The tone should be appropriately serious, sincere and modestly confident.
The first step in writing the essay is brainstorming. It is the process of coming up with ideas spontaneously from free flowing writing or talking. To brainstorm, you can simply sit down with a pen and jot down every idea that comes into your head. Another approach is to simply start writing and see where you end up. Record as much information as you can recall, such as schools attended, courses taken, jobs held, research projects undertaken. After you have jotted down the most basic and raw information possible, work on taking yourself deeper into the introspection process by tackling more specific topics.
Once you have completed the brainstorming process, you’ll have a rough idea of what you actually want to write about. So after that, you have to select the essay topic. When selecting a topic, you should keep in mind to choose a topic that allows you to demonstrate your skills and individuality, a topic that answers the essay question while telling the reviewers what they really want to know. While deciding on the topic of your application, keep in mind that you have to keep the reader interested while at the same time, revealing something about yourself in a way that makes you an ideal applicant.
After you have selected the essay topic, get down to actual writing. The key to a good essay is revising and re-revising. Revising is an integral part of essay writing and it is only after a great amount of revising that you can come up with an excellent essay. Once the revising is done and over with, you have your final draft before you. Be sure to avoid sloppiness and poor English. Also avoid biases against any religion, sexist comments, whining and politics. And of course, be sure to keep a printed copy of your final draft.
As mentioned before, some scholarships committees ask you to provide an activity sheet. An activity sheet is simply a list of all the clubs you have belonged to, all the sports you have played, all the hobbies you have, all the awards you have gotten, all the volunteer work or paid jobs you have done et cetera. Make sure that all of these things are stated clearly on your activity sheet, some committees ask you to list them down in a chronological order while others require you to list these activities down in order of importance. The purpose of the activity sheet is that the scholarship committees want to know how much time you devote to the other things in life and how important extra curricular activities are to you. You should list down all the things that hold importance to you even if they are not organized is proper clubs or committees. The scholarship committees want to know all about your activities.
Interview:
Some scholarship committees take interviews, usually as a part of the final selection process. This is because the scholarship committees want to meet you to make sure that you are a personification of all the values and activities and academics you have discussed in your application. You can use this interview as an opportunity to talk about your interests and your plans for future education. You should dress formally and arrive at least 15 minutes before the interview is scheduled. Do not let the interview make you nervous, just remember at all times that all the scholarship committee wants to do is try to get to know you better.
FACTORS CONSIDERED IN THE SELECTION OF CANDIDATES:
There are many different scholarships and each scholarship has its own specified criteria. However, there are a few factors that are common in most scholarship applications. Those factors are listed below:
# Academic standing (class rank)
# Weighted GPA
# Standardized test scores
# Extra curricular activities
# Submitted essay
# Letters of recommendation
# Financial need
# Work experience
# School and community/civic participation
# Attendance record
# Potential for success
# Higher educational and vocational aspirations
# Written communication skills
# Character strengths (such as motivation, persistence, resourcefulness, etc.)
# Demonstrated skills, aptitudes or experience
As mentioned before, different scholarship committees look for different things. Some scholarship committees might consider your academic records and do not even ask you for your educational aspirations, while others might only consider your financial needs and not ask you for your work experience. Scholarship committees might sometimes only consider one or two of the factors listed above or sometimes, they might consider all of these factors.
FINAL WORD:
Most students seem to believe that the competition amongst people applying for scholarships is so fierce that it is only the most brilliant and outstanding students who are granted these scholarships. And due to this misconception, a lot of students fail to apply for scholarships. The truth is, that scholarships are not awarded to students who are brilliantly outstanding; it is true that some scholarships consider academic brilliance but there are a lot of scholarships that concentrate more on extra circular activities and special talents of students.
Apply to as many scholarships as you are eligible for, and make sure that you complete your application well before the deadline. Have your application proofread before you send it. Good luck!
Winning the Scholarship Award
Searching for and finding scholarships is only the first half of the process. You still need to apply for each scholarship you are trying to win. Applying for scholarships can be time consuming and takes dedication and motivation. But the thousands of dollars you could receive makes the effort worthwhile. Below are some hints to help you apply for and win scholarships.
Be proactive.No one is going to track you down to give you a scholarship; you need to do the legwork yourself. So when you find awards with eligibility criteria that you can meet, contact the provider and request a scholarship application packet. Whether you have to request the application via email, phone or by sending in a self-addressed stamped envelope, do it. There’s just no other way to get the ball rolling than to be proactive and assertive in requesting information for yourself.
Be timely.Almost all scholarship providers set deadlines, and you MUST adhere to them. Make sure you have all materials submitted before the deadline. If the scholarship deadline is approaching and you have not yet even received the application packet that you requested four weeks earlier, follow-up with the provider and request the application packet again. You do not want to miss a deadline, as most scholarship providers do not consider late applicants.
Be organized.Good organizational skills can really pay off - literally! Keep your applications ordered by deadline date and give yourself plenty of time to complete them and send them in well before the due date. Keep letters of recommendation and transcripts on hand so you don’t have to obtain new ones every time they are required for an application. Make copies of your completed applications before sending them in, and file them in folders labeled with the deadline date and the mailing address and phone number of the scholarship provider. Call before the deadline to see if your scholarship application was received. If it got lost in the mail, (the postal service is not perfect!) you still have an extra copy you can send in.
Be persistent.The scholarship search process doesn’t just happen overnight. You must be diligent about looking for new scholarships to apply for. Plan to spend several hours each month reviewing the scholarship programs with deadlines approaching, preparing application packets, and getting the applications in the mail on time. And then the cycle should begin again - finding scholarships, sending away for application information, and applying in an organized, timely manner.
Be positive.Finally, believe in yourself and in your chances of winning a scholarship. Hard work and time spent on the scholarship process will pay off eventually. Keep your chin up and think about how great the reward will be if you can land even one of the scholarships you’re trying for! After all, your education depends on it!
Be proactive.No one is going to track you down to give you a scholarship; you need to do the legwork yourself. So when you find awards with eligibility criteria that you can meet, contact the provider and request a scholarship application packet. Whether you have to request the application via email, phone or by sending in a self-addressed stamped envelope, do it. There’s just no other way to get the ball rolling than to be proactive and assertive in requesting information for yourself.
Be timely.Almost all scholarship providers set deadlines, and you MUST adhere to them. Make sure you have all materials submitted before the deadline. If the scholarship deadline is approaching and you have not yet even received the application packet that you requested four weeks earlier, follow-up with the provider and request the application packet again. You do not want to miss a deadline, as most scholarship providers do not consider late applicants.
Be organized.Good organizational skills can really pay off - literally! Keep your applications ordered by deadline date and give yourself plenty of time to complete them and send them in well before the due date. Keep letters of recommendation and transcripts on hand so you don’t have to obtain new ones every time they are required for an application. Make copies of your completed applications before sending them in, and file them in folders labeled with the deadline date and the mailing address and phone number of the scholarship provider. Call before the deadline to see if your scholarship application was received. If it got lost in the mail, (the postal service is not perfect!) you still have an extra copy you can send in.
Be persistent.The scholarship search process doesn’t just happen overnight. You must be diligent about looking for new scholarships to apply for. Plan to spend several hours each month reviewing the scholarship programs with deadlines approaching, preparing application packets, and getting the applications in the mail on time. And then the cycle should begin again - finding scholarships, sending away for application information, and applying in an organized, timely manner.
Be positive.Finally, believe in yourself and in your chances of winning a scholarship. Hard work and time spent on the scholarship process will pay off eventually. Keep your chin up and think about how great the reward will be if you can land even one of the scholarships you’re trying for! After all, your education depends on it!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
E-Learning Recognition Award,
Eszterházy Károly College, Hungary (6 November 2006)
OUM was involved in the organisation and participation of Agria Media 2006, a conference held in Eger, Hungary to discuss the many aspects of e-Learning, digital teaching and its accompanying learning environments. The award was in appreciation of OUM’s contribution to e-Learning.
OUM was involved in the organisation and participation of Agria Media 2006, a conference held in Eger, Hungary to discuss the many aspects of e-Learning, digital teaching and its accompanying learning environments. The award was in appreciation of OUM’s contribution to e-Learning.
KL ranks top 3 city for business in Asia
BANGKOK: Kuala Lumpur has been ranked among the top three cities for business in Asia in the SmartTravelAsia.com’s 2009 Best in Travel Poll.
The Malaysian capital, ranked fourth last year, finished behind Hong Kong which remained the top city for business, followed by Singapore, while Bangkok, the “City of Angels”, dropped one rung to fourth. SmartTravelAsia.com, the region’s dedicated online travel magazine with over one million readers worldwide, said the category took in perceptions and actual experiences of business travellers in dealing with a range of factors like efficiency of transport and general services, signposting, hotels, airport and so on.
Malaysia’s low cost carrier AirAsia was voted the Best Budget Airline in Asia for the fourth consecutive year, polling 38% of the votes while Jetstar Asia and Singapore-based Tiger Airways came in second and third respectively.
The 12 category poll ran for three key months, May to July, said SmartTravelAsia.com, adding that on the average, voters took 12.84 air trips over the past 12 months, and earned US$170,401 in household income. About 60% were based in Asia, largely in Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, India, China, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and the Middle East, 20% in Europe and the rest in United States and North America.
In the Best Airlines Worldwide 2009 category, Singapore Airlines grabbed the top spot, as well as topping the Best Business Class and Best Cabin Service categories.
Cathay Pacific Airways and Thai Airways International came in second and third respectively while Malaysia Airlines came in eighth.
Bali, Maldives and Phuket are the top three Best Holiday Destinations in Asia, while Malaysia’s Langkawi and Penang took the sixth and 10th spots respectively.
Kuala Lumpur came in fourth in the Best City for Shopping category, which was topped by Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok.
Kuala Lumpur International Airport grabbed the fourth place in the best airport category, which was won by Singapore’s Changi Airport while Hong Kong International Airport and Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi came in second and third respectively. -- BERNAMA
The Malaysian capital, ranked fourth last year, finished behind Hong Kong which remained the top city for business, followed by Singapore, while Bangkok, the “City of Angels”, dropped one rung to fourth. SmartTravelAsia.com, the region’s dedicated online travel magazine with over one million readers worldwide, said the category took in perceptions and actual experiences of business travellers in dealing with a range of factors like efficiency of transport and general services, signposting, hotels, airport and so on.
Malaysia’s low cost carrier AirAsia was voted the Best Budget Airline in Asia for the fourth consecutive year, polling 38% of the votes while Jetstar Asia and Singapore-based Tiger Airways came in second and third respectively.
The 12 category poll ran for three key months, May to July, said SmartTravelAsia.com, adding that on the average, voters took 12.84 air trips over the past 12 months, and earned US$170,401 in household income. About 60% were based in Asia, largely in Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, India, China, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and the Middle East, 20% in Europe and the rest in United States and North America.
In the Best Airlines Worldwide 2009 category, Singapore Airlines grabbed the top spot, as well as topping the Best Business Class and Best Cabin Service categories.
Cathay Pacific Airways and Thai Airways International came in second and third respectively while Malaysia Airlines came in eighth.
Bali, Maldives and Phuket are the top three Best Holiday Destinations in Asia, while Malaysia’s Langkawi and Penang took the sixth and 10th spots respectively.
Kuala Lumpur came in fourth in the Best City for Shopping category, which was topped by Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok.
Kuala Lumpur International Airport grabbed the fourth place in the best airport category, which was won by Singapore’s Changi Airport while Hong Kong International Airport and Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi came in second and third respectively. -- BERNAMA
Malaysian Students To Help Indonesia's Earthquake Victims
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 (Bernama) -- A group of 30 volunteers comprising Malaysian medical students from several universities in Indonesia have been deployed to provide assistance to victims of the powerful quake that hit West Java on Thursday.
Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek said the voluntary group was initiated by overseas Umno club in collaboration with the Malaysian Students' Department in Indonesia and the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta.
Indonesian authorities said the 7.3 magnitude quake killed over 60 people, injured 400 others and destroyed 87,000 homes.
Ahmad Shabery said the team, headed by Malaysian Students' Department director in Indonesia, Dr Junaidi Abu Bakar, would be moving into the disaster area Saturday.
"They will provide food and clothing as well as meals for the breaking of fast. They will also look into other assistance which can be provided to the victims," Ahmad Shabery said in a statement.
Ahmad Shabery, who is overseas Umno club chairman, said the programme would also expose the students to voluntary works in times of disaster.
-- BERNAMA
Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek said the voluntary group was initiated by overseas Umno club in collaboration with the Malaysian Students' Department in Indonesia and the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta.
Indonesian authorities said the 7.3 magnitude quake killed over 60 people, injured 400 others and destroyed 87,000 homes.
Ahmad Shabery said the team, headed by Malaysian Students' Department director in Indonesia, Dr Junaidi Abu Bakar, would be moving into the disaster area Saturday.
"They will provide food and clothing as well as meals for the breaking of fast. They will also look into other assistance which can be provided to the victims," Ahmad Shabery said in a statement.
Ahmad Shabery, who is overseas Umno club chairman, said the programme would also expose the students to voluntary works in times of disaster.
-- BERNAMA
Education inflation - Finance matters
These annual increases have come to be anticipated, but soon many parents will find themselves awakening to the chilling fact that in a few short years, when packing their children off for their first years of university, the cost increase will be staggering.Most expats come from backgrounds where university education is the norm rather than the exception. With rising costs of education outpacing inflation, it makes sense to start early to think about how you will be able to afford to send your child to university without requiring them to take loans they may be repaying into their 30s and 40s.Recent US figures show the average cost of private four-year tuition is around $25,000 per year, with top-tier universities closer to $40,000. British families, by comparison, will face much lower tuition costs, roughly £3,000 per year for a standard three year course, being repaid after graduating. Tuition charges are fixed at least until the 2009 review when many suggest that fees would have to at least double to keep up with rising costs.
While some may see the UK, or even Hungary which has even lower fees, as a bargain versus study in the US, other costs will affect everyone equally. Housing, books, food, activity fees, entertainment, returning home for holidays and special events, all these costs could easily add on another £10,000 per year. Clearly, even free education is not exactly free, especially when parents live in other countries, or even other continents.
These costs are meaningless in comparison with the possible advantages. Studies show that university degrees holders will out-earn their counterparts with only a high school degree by more than 60%; over a lifetime this will equate to more than $800,000.
Top-notch
Attending top universities will afford your children not just with a top-notch education; they will forge relationships with those who will become the leaders of tomorrow, as well as access to extensive alumni networks.
Sacrifices made today for a university degree will be greatly over- shadowed by the future earnings benefit. The question remains, how will you be able to afford this investment? The two most common answers are usually “Pay Now” or “Pay Later.”
Depending on circumstances, “Pay Now” may mean emptying savings accounts, dipping into retirement funds, remortgaging the house, or having you child work his or her way through university rather than focusing on studies.
“Pay later” suggests that this expense is treated similar to a home mortgage, borrowing today, to repay tomorrow. But do you want your children to start their adult lives already in debt?
Merit-based scholarships and grants are the best way to pay for education costs. If your child qualifies, he or she will never have to repay this aid. Qualifying takes lots of hard work and aid may be withdrawn if marks at school decline. Though there are a number of scholarships available, since they are essentially ‘free money,’ competition is fierce, and some may be unattainable if they are also tied to a family’s economic need.
Another idea is to save now for more choice later, so you are not relying on outside sources to meet costs. Putting together a suitable strategy today, where a portion of income is set aside at regular intervals and invested in a plan which will grow to meet the cost of your children’s university, could mean not putting unneeded financial pressure on your family, or having your children start professional lives careers already in deep debt.
As parents send children off for the first time to university this fall, most will be filled with an enormous sense of pride; for some this will quickly be overcome by fear and panic once the bills start arriving in the post.
Giving your child one of the greatest head starts in life should not mean future financial distress, and early planning can help you avoid this. Speaking with a professional financial advisor today will help understand your options, as well as steps to achieve these goals.
Liam Crow is a former option trader at the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Board Options Exchange. He graduated with an MBA from Corvinus University of Budapest and works for Andrew Jackson at Capital Growth Solutions, Budapest’s oldest offshore financial consultancy, assisting clients with financial solutions worldwide. This column is exclusive to The Budapest Sun.
24.09.2008
While some may see the UK, or even Hungary which has even lower fees, as a bargain versus study in the US, other costs will affect everyone equally. Housing, books, food, activity fees, entertainment, returning home for holidays and special events, all these costs could easily add on another £10,000 per year. Clearly, even free education is not exactly free, especially when parents live in other countries, or even other continents.
These costs are meaningless in comparison with the possible advantages. Studies show that university degrees holders will out-earn their counterparts with only a high school degree by more than 60%; over a lifetime this will equate to more than $800,000.
Top-notch
Attending top universities will afford your children not just with a top-notch education; they will forge relationships with those who will become the leaders of tomorrow, as well as access to extensive alumni networks.
Sacrifices made today for a university degree will be greatly over- shadowed by the future earnings benefit. The question remains, how will you be able to afford this investment? The two most common answers are usually “Pay Now” or “Pay Later.”
Depending on circumstances, “Pay Now” may mean emptying savings accounts, dipping into retirement funds, remortgaging the house, or having you child work his or her way through university rather than focusing on studies.
“Pay later” suggests that this expense is treated similar to a home mortgage, borrowing today, to repay tomorrow. But do you want your children to start their adult lives already in debt?
Merit-based scholarships and grants are the best way to pay for education costs. If your child qualifies, he or she will never have to repay this aid. Qualifying takes lots of hard work and aid may be withdrawn if marks at school decline. Though there are a number of scholarships available, since they are essentially ‘free money,’ competition is fierce, and some may be unattainable if they are also tied to a family’s economic need.
Another idea is to save now for more choice later, so you are not relying on outside sources to meet costs. Putting together a suitable strategy today, where a portion of income is set aside at regular intervals and invested in a plan which will grow to meet the cost of your children’s university, could mean not putting unneeded financial pressure on your family, or having your children start professional lives careers already in deep debt.
As parents send children off for the first time to university this fall, most will be filled with an enormous sense of pride; for some this will quickly be overcome by fear and panic once the bills start arriving in the post.
Giving your child one of the greatest head starts in life should not mean future financial distress, and early planning can help you avoid this. Speaking with a professional financial advisor today will help understand your options, as well as steps to achieve these goals.
Liam Crow is a former option trader at the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Board Options Exchange. He graduated with an MBA from Corvinus University of Budapest and works for Andrew Jackson at Capital Growth Solutions, Budapest’s oldest offshore financial consultancy, assisting clients with financial solutions worldwide. This column is exclusive to The Budapest Sun.
24.09.2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
