British High Commission KL, Sarawak Skills co-host Chevening scholarships information session, workshop

KUCHING (Sept 24): The British High Commission Kuala Lumpur and the Sarawak Skills Group of Learning Institutions (Sarawak Skills) co-hosted a Chevening Scholarships Information Session and Workshop at i-CATS University College (i-CATS UC) at Jalan Stampin Timur here recently.

The event was facilitated by Chevening Partnerships officer Gurpreet Kaur and Chevening Alumni officer Maryam Spahic from the British High Commission Kuala Lumpur, and i-CATS UC is part of the Sarawak Skills Group of Learning Institutions, said a Sarawak Skills press release yesterday.

Among the highlights of the workshop were sharing sessions by two Chevening alumni namely Afifah Ismail and Laura Kho.

Sarawak Skills executive director Hallman Sabri expressed his thanks to all participants including parents, working adults, students from various institutions of higher learning and Sarawak Skills management, staff members, students and alumni for coming out in full force to support the information session and workshop.

“Following the success of last year’s Chevening Scholarships Information Session and Workshop at Sarawak Skills, it is indeed an honour for Sarawak Skills to, once again, co-host this year’s information session and workshop with the British High Commission Kuala Lumpur.

“I am pleased to note that the Chevening Scholarship fully funds a one-year master’s degree in any course at any UK University with no age limit. This includes (but is not limited to) the following: university tuition fees; a monthly stipend; travel costs to and from the UK; an arrival allowance; a homeward departure allowance; the cost of one visa application; a travel grant to attend Chevening events in the UK,” he said.

Hallman, who is also Federation of Malaysian Skills Development Centres (FMSDC) chairman, said: “Sarawak Skills has a long-established relationship with the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur – since Sarawak Skills organised the World TVET Conference in 2015.”

In 2017, he said the British High Commission Kuala Lumpur invited Sarawak Skills officials to participate in a study visit to universities and industries in the United Kingdom to explore strategic tie-ups in Metallurgy and related fields.

He added that in July 2022, Sarawak Skills and the National Open College Network (NOCN) Group, United Kingdom entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to advance various talent development initiatives.

“Indeed, the aforementioned developments support Sarawak Skills’ role as a stakeholder in the transformation of Sarawak’s socio-economic landscape in line with the Sarawak Post Covid-19 Development Strategy 2030,” he said.

Hallman continued: “At Sarawak Skills, we are proud of our track record in offering globally-recognised programmes from the United Kingdom. This is an important part of the wide range of academic, skills and training programmes offered at Sarawak Skills. Since 2001, one of our popular programmes is the Pearson BTEC Level 5 HND in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.”

He pointed out that to date about 1,000 students have graduated from the programme with an excellent employability track record, mostly in the oil and gas sector.

Sarawak Skills offered the Vocational Diploma in Electrical Power Generation Technology programme from 2018 to 2021 (funded by the Malaysian Government during this period), he said.

“Accredited by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), 198 students graduated from this programme.

“The Digital English Solution for TVET Students Programme (PEARSON Digital English) started in October 2021 with the first batch of 127 participants. The programme is funded by the Ministry of Education, Innovation and Talent Development, Sarawak,” he added.

The deadline for submission of the Chevening scholarship applications is Nov 5 at 11:59 UTC/GMT (midday UK time).

For more information, visit the Chevening Scholarships website Chevening.org.