PUTRAJAYA, Oct 26 — The living allowance (ESH) for new and existing scholars sponsored by the Higher Education Ministry (MOHE) will be raised next year, its minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin announced.
The raise will benefit 24,729 students under its sponsorship programme locally and abroad, with a RM30.78 million financial implication.
“The government will always focus on the welfare of sponsored scholars and seriously assist them in facing rising living costs,” he said at the launch of MyBrain 2.0 and the 2023 sponsorship letters’ presentation today.
The allowance will be raised by 15 per cent for new and existing doctorate scholars abroad and under the MyBrainScience programme,
New and existing students on scholarships in Malaysia will receive an additional RM100 monthly and will involve recipients of university excellent athlete scholarships, polytechnic excellent scholarships, tokoh siswah scholarships, dermasiswa B40 TVET, and MyBrain 2.0 programme.
Khaled said the MOHE will standardise the living allowance for new and existing scholars to a single rate according to their course levels, with RM730 for a bachelor’s degree, RM730 for a master’s degree, and RM1,000 for a doctorate.
However, this will not involve the MyBrainScience programme as the current rate is much better than other existing programmes.
“The monthly RM100 increase in living allowance is also expanded to B40 students (public university basic financial aid and community college student financial aid) and disabled persons (PwD) (PwD financial aid and special education programmes),” he added.
The current living allowance for basic financial aid is RM208.33 a month, PwD financial aid (RM300 monthly), community college student financial aid (RM300 monthly), and RM610 monthly for special education programme students.
For new and existing scholars in the United Kingdom, the rate will be standardised and no longer be based on area, while those in the United States will be standardised from three to two rates.,
Meanwhile, the living allowance for new and existing Public Service Department scholars, both local and abroad, will be maintained.
“This is because the rising living costs can be absorbed by officers studying locally and abroad as they are also receiving their full monthly salaries on top of the living allowance,” Khaled said.
— Bernama
