Seychellois students learn about study opportunities in Malaysia |24 February 2020

Seychellois students seeking to pursue further studies at university level had the opportunity on Saturday to meet with representatives from 15 Malaysian universities during the Malaysia Education exhibition.

Hosted at the Eden Bleu Hotel by the Malaysia Education Centre in partnership with the Agency for National Human Resource Development (ANHRD), the event has been organised since 2016 with the aim of showcasing the various educational possibilities available in Malaysia.

Universities that were participating in Saturday’s exhibition were the Asia Pacific University (APU), City University, Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur (IUKL, Monash University Malaysia, Newcastle University Malaysia, QUEST International University Perak, SEGi University, Sunway University, Taylor's University, UCSI University, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) / National University of Malaysia, University of Cyberjaya, University of Southampton Malaysia Campus (USMC) and the University of Technology Malaysia.

With a long line up of universities, the numerous Seychellois students present were not left without courses to choose from.

Seychelles NATION met 19-year-old Terrence Anderson who was using the exhibition to inform his choices about furthering his studies at the Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur.

“The courses I’m looking at are for surveying and architect; both courses are around three years but the degree for architecture, which is the second degree, is an additional two years. So, now I am just going to check out the other places and see which one fits me best.”

Meanwhile 18-year-old Steena Colle, a recent graduate from the School of Advanced Level Studies (Sals), was more interested in the undergraduate law degree at Taylor’s University.

Although law is a course which is available at the University of Seychelles, Steena explained that she is hoping to embark on a part-finance scheme, wherein ANHRD pays one part and her parents pay the difference.

“It has always been my dream to study abroad. I mean the University of Seychelles and University of London are great but I had always set my mind to having an overseas university experience,” she stated.

“At present, Taylor’s University has caught my interest the most. I had already researched it online and there are some Seychellois students who I know there so it seems like a good place. I also like the way they teach there.”

Managing director of the Malaysia Education Centre, Fadil Ruhomutally, noted that the Malaysia Education Centre “started out hosting these exhibitions because the centre found that there weren’t as much information about Malaysian universities in Seychelles compared to some other countries in the region”.

“Malaysia is the top university destination for countries in the Indian Ocean but this did not reflect in Seychelles. We had received demands from a few students in Seychelles so we came in 2016 to explore these interests. Once we had started and the information had been passed to the public, then we started getting Seychellois students enrolling in Malaysian universities.”

“The first batch went, they liked it so much and then the second batch came and it kept on increasing, so much so that Malaysia is now the number one destination for students, an achievement for the few years we have come here.”

There are presently over 60 Seychellois students presently studying in Malaysia.

“The reason why we hold these exhibitions twice a year is to give support to students and parents or whoever have relatives studying in Malaysia. Support is very important; the parents want to know how their kids are doing, whether they are doing well, whether they are attending classes, if everything is fine over there. So there is always this connection between the university representatives and the other parties,” Mr Ruhomutally added.

The reasons as to why Malaysia is one of the top education hubs in Asia and keeps on attracting students include the fact that it is an affordable country, it holds a multitude of universities even those from other countries such as Australia and the UK and has over 150,000 international students from 150 countries which allows for a more diverse, cultural university experience.

The accompanying photographs by our photographer Louis Toussaint show students visiting the various stands at the fair on Saturday.

Elsie Pointe