Scholarships for Cambridge stint

PETALING JAYA: The Tunku Abdul Rahman Scholarship is offering scholarships to Malaysian students to study humanities and social sciences at Cambridge University.

Cambridge University director of studies Dr Peter Wothers said that applicants could be from any academic background but they must apply to study in the humanities and social sciences.

“We are trying to support subjects that are traditionally harder to secure funding for graduate level,” he said.

The Tunku Abdul Rahman Fund was established in 2003 by the Government to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, the first prime minister, who received his undergraduate degree, his honorary doctorate in Law, and an honorary fellowship from St Catharine’s College, Cambridge.

Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Mary Yap launched the scholarship at a ceremony held at Menara Star yesterday.

Dr Wothers said the scholarship could cover four students comprising three PhD students and one Master’s student, at any one time.

Applicants should first identify the course and supervisor they would like to study with at St Catharine’s College, he said.

“It is a fully funded scholarship as it covers the college/university fees and maintenance fees (which includes grants and expenses),” he said after the ceremony.

For more information on the scholarship, visit http://www.caths.cam.ac.uk/tunkuscholarship.

British High Commissioner to Malaysia Victoria Treadell said the scholarship reflected the relationship Tunku had with Britain.

“He also understood that the scholarship was for Malaysians regardless of religion and race,” she said.

Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs founding president Tunku Zain Al-Abidin Tuanku Mukhriz, in his welcoming speech, said the scholarship might not be well-known but this was being worked out by meeting stakeholders to increase awareness about it.

Star Media Group Berhad chief operating officer of content development June Wong shared anecdotes about Tunku.

“Upon his retirement as prime minister, he became restless as he had led a very active life as a politician for 20 years.

“He was offered the position of The Star’s chairman which came with the offer to write a weekly column,” she said.

“For Tunku, the people always came first. It was a recurring theme in his writing,” she added.