PETALING JAYA, Feb 22 — National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) and Yayasan Waqaf Malaysia (YWM) today signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) to forge strategic collaboration in enhancing higher education and the development of ummah.
PTPTN chairman Datuk Norliza Abdul Rahim said that PTPTN and YWM were committed to collaborating in the implementation of an education endowment through the ‘Wakaf Tunai Pendidikan PTPTN-YWM’ initiative.
She said that the collaboration aimed at establishing an endowment fund as one of the initiatives to diversify funding sources for higher education financing, besides the existing PTPTN education loans.
“It also transforms the endowment fund into a wealth redistribution instrument for the development of the nation’s education among students through alternative educational aid in the form of scholarships, namely the Wakaf Tunai PTPTN,” she said in her speech before witnessing the signing of the MoA here.
PTPTN was represented by its chief executive officer Ahmad Dasuki Abdul Majid while YWM chief executive officer Dr Ridzwan Bakar signed for the foundation.
Norliza said that the cooperation also aimed at reducing people’s reliance on education loans, thereby lessening the burden of loan repayment for students.
She said that strong support from various parties was crucial for PTPTN to continue standing strong as a respected savings institution.
“I hope that this initiative will receive solid support from the community. I also hope that when this education endowment is launched, it will receive encouraging responses from corporate companies, financial institutions, government and private agencies, as well as customers,” she said.
Furthermore, Norliza is also confident that the education endowment would motivate students to pursue higher education, thereby contributing to the development of the nation’s human capital.
“This effort can also reduce PTPTN’s dependency on the government as a source of long-term financing. May this sealed cooperation lead PTPTN and YWM towards a brighter new phase in empowering the waqf institution as an instrument for educational and socio-economic development of the ummah,” she said.
— Bernama
