World Class Universities - UiTM ?

RM50,000 just for these two pages worth of craps?

It's no more secrets that UiTM Vice Chancellor published/posted some self-congratulatory advertisments in the media, boasting UiTM as world-class universities.

But I certainly did not know that UiTM spent RM50,000 just to put up two pages of full-color advertisement in a local newspaper, claiming itself "world class universities."


And is the student intake of UiTM based of Meritocracy? Bull Shits. Our VC of UiTM must have gone nutsssss! I know it sounds like a joke, but it isnt.

Read more HERE (Education in Malaysia)






C Guevara

Penanti by-election 31st May, Nomination 23rd May.

The election commission announced that the Penanti poll, following the resignation of Fairuz, will be held at 31st May 2009. Nomination day falls on 23rd May, meaning there will be 8 Days in between the two events.

Muhammad Fairuz Khairuddin left the Penang state seat vacant after a series of corruption allegations thrown to him, which eventually all cleared by the anti corruption agency.

Personally I still believe Fairuz is clean and innocent...
Anyhow, PKR should stop their internal strife against each other in the party, because they are the only hope we have to form a new government in the future.


C Guevara

Private College, a Good Choice for SPM graduates?

Private College. If this is the top choice for you besides JPA scholarships and Matrikulasi, or if you think Private colleges pre U programs can help you save one or two months or even one year of extra studies, better think about it again. Please note that I'm not trying to criticize or to pick on private colleges because of prejudice. I am merely pointing out WHY SPM graduates should think twice before making private colleges as their priority for further studies.

What you're about to read in this post later are my honest and unbiased opinions towards private colleges in Malaysia. To me, Private colleges is a good choice for STPM students who failed to get the courses they desired in local public universities, but certainly not for SPM graduates. Let's see why.


Ridiculously Expensive Tution Fees

Your friends/ private unis "promoters" may tell you...:

“Government can lend us money through PTPTN one lah! No worries lah!”
“ Haiya, UTAR got give away 100% scholarships for Pre U studies, if you get 9 As and above!”
“ Very cheap only lah… Can borrow money, somemore father mother can give pocket money, why not?”

I wish to remind anyone here whose parents are not that rich, THINK carefully before you make your decision to study in private colleges. PTPTN can certainly lend you a generous amount of money, but do not forget it is not for free. You have to pay for the interests and the installment you have to pay can stretch up to as far as 30 years. ( for Pre U fees + degree tuition fees)

Imagine YOU paying installment every month after you graduate from colleges until you’re 50 years old. Scary? And again, this is a fact. I’ve seen some of my friends whose families are not so wealthy, they spend up to/more than 1500ringgit per month for food and lodgings alone, and some even spend money lavishly at night clubs or internet as if they have only 1 lecture per week.

Bear in mind that this amount (approx 1000 ringgit per month) is food and lodgings ONLY, tuition fees not included. I can’t help but to feel sad for their parents, who work 12 hours a day and spare half of their income to support their children whom they thought are studying hard and are receiving top class education in colleges.

The story doesn’t end here. After Pre U in private college, where can you go for your degree? It is either Overseas or stay back in private colleges. For rich kids, yes, no problems. Some are rich enough to do 1 year of Pre U course and fly to UK Australia straight away for their degrees. But as I said, for those who’re not that rich, there is another few years for your parents (if not you) to suffer. All these would not happen to a form six or a local university students as the tuition fees for local universities is approximately 10 times LESS than the tuition fees of private colleges. (this is a fact!)

Do not get cheated by those advertisements which tell you that you are entitled a FREE Pre U course. Think about the degree. Very often the Pre U cost a little, but the tuition fees for degree courses can squeeze blood out of you.
( I’ve just seen a junior failing to get the scholarships she wanted so badly as advertised by the private college. Another victim)



Degree?

Thinking of getting a degree? Doing a Pre U program without continuing degree is useless. Once you have done your Pre U program at private colleges, you have only two choices: Continue your degree at PRIVATE COLLEGES, or at Overseas Universities. There is no way you can get into local university because the chance for that to happen is extremely small. And again, unless your dad owns big business or is a good friend of UMNO big shots, then going overseas would be quite impossible and your only choice is to stay back in that college for the rest of your degree.



Quality?

I had a friend who told me why he chose to study at private college after SPM.
The reason was “ Aiya, form six teachers all very lousy one lar!.... I do A level in XXXXX college sure the lecturers are better than them lar…”

Lecturers? Yea.. Of course it sounds a lot more glamorous than ‘form six teachers’. But only after a few months I spotted him hiding in the corner of my school’s lecture hall, listening to the lecture conducted by our chemistry teacher, Chua Yok Ten. He admitted that those “lecturers” are sucks. Another friend of mine studying in UXXX, told me that his English Language Lecturer couldn’t even speak English fluently. At first I doubt what he said, some other friends testified it. By hiring some jobless fresh graduates or part time job seekers as their lecturers, I believe private colleges can save a lot and earn a lot more. Well, of course, I’m not saying that EVERY lecturer teaching at private colleges sucks. But there are many of them, especially those who conduct Pre U lectures and programs. The stories of my friends experience at Private Collges doing Pre University programs DOES make sense. The number of Pre University programs students, mostly SPM graduates, are demanding even more teaching forces. It is not surprising that colleges that offer you 'scholarships' to do Pre U programs NOT being able to hire top quality lecturers.



Facility?

How much better the facilities a rich Taukeh of a private college can offer you compared to what our GOVERNMENT can give you?

Some people say Nilai Inti is super big..The area is super large, the facilities are super new. But hey, it is still smaller than UKM, UPM , UMS, UniMas ok? Government spent millions of ringgit each year to support EACH local university. Grants for research purposes worth millions of ringgits are poured into local public uni by the government to make sure that students of local uni receive the best. What about private colleges? Do you want me to believe that a super large private college can afford state-of-the-art technologies for education purposes?

Wake up wake up, private college is an INDUSTRY; it has little to do with education!

Low Cost ( cheap manpower, cheap facilities)
High income ( of course get tuition fees from you lar)
= Industry of Private education. Accept it. It’s a fact that its an INDUSTRY.


College life?

When a private college tries to cut cost, do you think they will fund any extracurricular student activities? Big projects or vital research? Unless they're sponsored by government or overseas governments like AIMST University and Nottingham (Nottingham's suckks money though!)

The answer is a BIG NO.

So, what’s about college life besides studying?
Clubbing loh! Dota loh! Somemore? Internet café lor! If not, shopping loh!

Is this the “college life” you are really looking forward to enjoy?
I want to stress here that I do not mean ALL private college students will go clubbing or drinking or smoking or whatever it is, but SPM graduates who are still very young TEND TO get distracted by all these things in places like KL or Shah Alam. Even in Penang, some of my friends become kaki clubbing, and before that, they were nerdssssss at schools.

I must admit there are a few colleges/private universities which are in close collaboration with the government, and they're doing quite well for particular fields ONLY, not all, and not most of them. IMU is famous for its medicine and pharmacy studies, AIMST is famous for its top-class facilities for medical studies, for example. However, these are only for degrees, remember that Pre U programs in private colleges certainly do not offer enough of knowledge, quality experience and fun that a student supposed to have.

I know, that Pre U programs in private colleges has become so popular among SMJK students, that even those UMNO faggots claimed that private colleges are custom-made for non bumiputras.. So according to their reasoning, non bumiputras should not make noise when UiTM offer places for Indonesian but NOT for Chinese and Indians. See how ridiculous things have become? Tell them that we all are Malaysians, we want to get into local public universities!

You can voice out to the government by actions, studying in government institution and fighting to get into public universities. We want our share as Malaysians, in every course at every public university.

C Guevara

Why is STPM a Phobia to SPM Graduates?

This article is written regarding the drastic decrease in the popularity of STPM as the choice for SPM graduates to further their studies.

STPM. Why STPM?

Is it hard? Is it easy to pass?
Do we gain alot of knowledge in STPM studies?

But one thing for sure, STPM is longer in the wish-list of SPM graduates like before. It has become a phobia to so many nowadays that the number of STPM students throughout the country has dropped significantly in these few years of time. Why is this happening? We shall look into this problem to its root of the problem, and whether you agree with me or not, all these I'm about to say are the facts.

If you listen to your dad or mom, for those who were well educated, they will boast how hard it was to sit for HSC(High School Certificate, now STPM); and for those who did not receive much education due to bad times years ago, they'll encourage the new generation to go for STPM. Some called it the " 11th Class". We have seen so many seniors especially from SMJKs like Jit Sin, Chung Ling, Sam Tek, producing top scholars every year, and the number of students scoring a 4 flat results (4.0 CGPA) had never stopped rising by each year. And of course, that doesnt mean that excellent results in STPM is easy to score.

Just a few years before I entered secondary school, our STPM seniors were still taking 5 subjects, in this case, science student would be required to register for Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Pengajian Am. Now, only 4 subjects are made compulsory for the 'regular' science or commerce students. When I was so small that I didnt even know what STPM is, I had heard people wishing to get into STPM, but not until the industry of Private Colleges started to blossom.

The reason is simple, because government would not support non-bumiputra student in any other means besides STPM. MARA colleges, UiTM, Matrikulasi, MARA scholarships and even JPA scholarships are heavily 'protected' by the quota system. To me the quota system has already crippled our education system because there is not a healthy competition among new generations. Although not all, I can say most of the qualified non-bumiputra students are indirectly being 'filtered out' from the local university even before they manage to enter Pre University round. The only option our seniors had then was STPM. STPM is hard, at least, for me and my cohort as science students in form six. That is a fact. That is why Matrikulasi is there to 'educate' bumiputra students so that they can secure a place in the local university Without having to compete with STPM students.

All along students have struggled so hard to pass STPM. I'm not being boastful or what, but STPM is practically one of the hardest Pre university exam available in Malaysia, if not in the world. You can do a very simple comparison between the syllabus of STPM and the syllabus of ANY OTHER PRE U Program, AND, dont forget to try out the actual STPM papers as well.

In the midst of fear for not being able to score well in STPM, (so that to get into university eventually), private colleges came into 'rescue'.

KDU, Inti, Sedaya, Taylor, UTAR, PSDC, IMU, AIMST, Binary, Curtin Sarawak, Nottingham, Disted-Stamford..... These are only the BIG ones. What about hundreds of other 'micro-colleges'? Why the heck does Malaysia needs this number of private colleges? Who are these colleges catering for if not Malaysians? It was just recently that these private colleges started to enjoy rising popularity among oversea-rich-kids-from-saudi-china-and-africa. That is also another reason why big colleges like KDU and Inti can afford to set up their branches in a few states in Malaysia.

These colleges are practically squeezing money out of the desperate SPM graduates who certainly didnt want to study STPM, and did not have any other alternatives to further their studies through government institution. These SPM graduates mostly consist of non-bumiputras, and they have only two choices, STPM or private colleges. Few had the chance to make it into Matrikulasi or to get JPA scholarships that offer only 10% of its places to non-bumiputras. UiTM? Forget about it. It’s for Indonesians and bumiputras only.

For your information, critical courses in local universities like Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy have LESS than 10 % of STPM graduates in each of the courses. Believe it.It's a FACT.

Instead of gambling their future by studying form six that is a lot harder compared to their competitors like MARA college and Matrikulasi, many opted for private colleges in order to pursue their dreams. But sadly, not every parents are rich enough to do that. And obviously NOT EVERYONE who went to private colleges knew that their future holds. I'm sure that, many college students overestimated what their private colleges can fulfill them.

Why is that SPM graduates seem to resist STPM so much? And why has the number of STPM students steadily decrease every single year? WHY.

I presume that you and I knew who the culprit is.

Still don’t get it? Besides the government’s effort to sideline STPM graduates, another obvious factor is the booming of Private College Industry.

Please stay tune with JitSinExpress for the next entry

"Private College, a Good Choice?"



C Guevara

Former Deputy CM of Penang Resigns

The ex-deputy Chief Minister of Penang has finally issued his resignation letter from his state representative (ADUN) post, which is effective on 16th April 2009.

Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin also said in the official statement that his resignation is due to his plan to continue his further study and also to "clean" himself of the corruption allegations.

This would mean another by-election in Penanti within 60 days' time.

C Guevara

PAS, KeAdilan won Bkt.Gantang & Bkt.Selambau

Good News! It's almost certain that opposition parties (Pakatan Rakyat) have won both the plarliamentary and state seats out of the three by-elections held today.

CONFIRMED - Nizar from PAS won Bukit Gantang with a majority of 2789 votes against Barisan Nasional candidate. PAS -21860 votes BN-19071 votes

CONFIRMED - KeAdilan is leading with Majority 2,403 votes over Barisan's candidate. S Manikumar (PKR) 12,632 S Ganesan (MIC) 10,229 in Bukit Selambau

CONFIRMED - Malcolm Mussen from Barisan Nasional won Batang Ai, with over 1854 votes.


Resources from MalaysiaKini.


C Guevara

MALAYSIAN REJECTS RACIST UMNO

Go Go RAKYAT MALAYSIA, vote AGAINST BN! Let's give them a wake up call...

Let the PEOPLE WIN ALL THE THREE ELECTION, NOT UMNO!


Bukit Gantang, Bukit Selambau and Batang Ai, please, vote for Pakatan Rakyat!
Dont be blinded by the release of a few ISA detainees!


C Guevara

What's After SPM? Your Stories Are NEEDED!

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 30th April 2009!

Project What's After SPM: A Hundred Different Journeys

One book. One hundred stories.
For you. For hundreds of thousands of Malaysian youths.

(Yes you heard that right - hundreds of thousands of readers!)

For most of us, the end of secondary school education (or the lack of it) marked a turning point in our lives where we moved from studying together under an umbrella education system (SPM) to embarking upon vastly different pathways.

The transition process for the more fortunate among us would no doubt have been aided by the various resources made available to us: school counselors, advice from worried parents and knowledgeable seniors, counsel from helpful relatives, visits to campus open day sessions, mountainous stacks of college brochures, education sections in local newspapers, education resource websites etc.

The same, however, cannot be said of hundreds of thousands of kids all over Malaysia who have no regular access to the internet, are not blessed with well-informed family and friends, and who complete secondary school with little or almost no awareness of the opportunities that abound for them, as well as kids who are simply ignorant of the opportunities that surround them or just do not possess the faith and self-confidence to pursue their passions.

Therefore, we have decided to spearhead this project in hopes of reaching those kids and sending them this message: "Look, kids, now that you have completed secondary school, there are a million opportunities out there for you, a million pathways that you can undertake, a million places to visit, and you should explore those choices as much as you can. You can do anything you set your mind to. All it takes is keyakinan, a little bit of strategi, a little bit of tuah, and lots and lots of semangat dan usaha."

We are now looking for a plethoric collection of stories of young Malaysians who have pursued different pathways after SPM. The stories will be published in a book to be distributed to as many students and secondary schools as possible (tentative target: to distribute at least 2 books to each of the 5000 secondary schools in Malaysia). And we would like to invite you to participate in this project by submitting your story, or persuading your friends to submit their stories.

It does not matter whether you are a scholar with stellar results and a 3-inch thick resume, a typical student who went to a local university after finishing Form 6, or a youth who has to work in the pasar malam at night to foot your technical college fees in the day. It does not matter whether you have chosen the oft-beaten path or the road less travelled. We believe that there every education background offers its own boons and banes. And we believe that there are merits in telling any story.

Topics

Participants may touch on all or concentrate on a few of the following topics:

(a) What socioeconomic/education background did you come from and how did it contribute towards making you the person that you are today?

(b) What obstacles did you face in pursuing tertiary education and how did you overcome those obstacles?

(c) What prompted/who inspired you to pursue the pathway that you have undertaken/are currently undertaking?

(d) How did you find out about the pathway that you have undertaken/ are currently undertaking?

(e) What are the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing the pathway that you have taken/are currently undertaking?

(f) If you have had had a unique education background, please elaborate on your unusual circumstances (Examples: kampung boy who ended up in Yale University/home-schooled girl who faced difficulty persuading university admissions officers to admit her/student who pursued cosmological astrophysics at Cambridge under the prestigious Gates Scholarship/teenager who dropped out of school and pursued full-time modelling/youth who took a gap year after SPM to participate in humanitarian missions in Tibet/boy who has worked as a professional computer hacker since age 14/youth who entered a seminary to pursue priesthood/student who designed a new degree course at Smith College).

(g) If you have succeeded in securing a rare/prestigious scholarship/ undergone a rigorous university application process (Examples: Kofi Annan International Scholarship), please elaborate on the application process.

(h) What advice would you give to someone who hopes to pursue the same pathway that you have undertaken/are currently undertaking?

(i) How was the experience at your previous/current place of study and how has it changed your life? If you have had a non-academic pursuit (s) (establishing your own restaurant/working full-time as a social worker etc), how has your pursuit impacted other people?

(j) Is there any other issue regarding post-SPM education that you wish to discuss? What other pertinent advice would you give to someone who is about to complete SPM/secondary school?

Reminder: Remember that the purpose of writing your story is not to flaunt your achievements, but to share your unique experiences with your readers. as you write, rememebr to try to retain the relevancy between your experience and the reader's interest.

Malaysian children: dreams come in all packages (image from pro.corbis.com)

Participation rules

1. Participants must be Malaysian citizens.

2. Participants must be of age 35 or below as of 2009. (We have changed the age limit from 30 to 35, as of 13th March 2009).

3. Each entry will consist of a photo (to be printed in black & white), an introduction blurb written in 3rd person perspective and a main article written in 1st person perspective.

4. The introduction blurb is to be between 30-50 words, and must mention the participant's age and place(s) of study/pursuit (see below for examples).

5. The main article is to be between 600-800 words.

6. All articles are to be written in English. Participants who struggle with English may write in Malay/Chinese and have their articles translated by the committee members.

7. Articles may be edited for clarity, brevity and/or intelligibility, though the committee will strive not to tamper them.

8. All participants must use their real names. Pseudonyms will not be allowed.

9. About 100 entries will be selected for publishing. The committee's decisions will be final.

10. Photos may be of any style as long as it shows the participant's face, though black & white photos will be preferred as the book will be published in black & white.

11. All participants will retain the copyright of their articles and photos.

12. All entires are to be sent to whatsafterspm@gmail.com.

Deadline

April 30 2009

Diversity

We encourage young Malaysians from all walks of life to participate in this project. We strive for inclusivity and diversity in terms of:

(a) Socioeconomic, ethnic and geographical background of participants

(b) Secondary school background of participants (national schools, vernacular schools, international schools, private schools, religious schools, boarding schools, home-schooling, apprenticeship, dropouts etc)

(c) Pre-university education background of participants (STPM, matriculation, A Level, IB, SAM, ICPU, AUSMAT, ADP, foundation program, diploma, home-schooling etc)

(d) How did you find out about the pathway that you have undertaken/ are currently undertaking?

(e) What are the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing the pathway that you have taken/are currently undertaking?

(f) If you have had had a unique education background, please elaborate on your unusual circumstances (Examples: kampung boy who ended up in Yale University/home-schooled girl who faced difficulty persuading university admissions officers to admit her/student who pursued cosmological astrophysics at Cambridge under the prestigious Gates Scholarship/teenager who dropped out of school and pursued full-time modelling/youth who took a gap year after SPM to participate in humanitarian missions in Tibet/boy who has worked as a professional computer hacker since age 14/youth who entered a seminary to pursue priesthood/student who designed a new degree course at Smith College).

(g) Fields of interest of participants (pure sciences, arts & humanities, social sciences, medicine, law, engineering, entertainment, culinary arts, business, entrepreneurship etc)

Samples of introductory blurbs

(a) Mohammad Ghazali, 18, is currently setting up his own football memorabilia business at Berjaya Times Square with his ex-classmates after completing SPM at SMK USJ14. He spends his free time coaching orphans in football for free. He also owns a personal collection of jerseys autographed by over 50 Manchester United players, and wants the Devils to reclaim the English Premier League


(b) Tee Le Yin, 26, a former national swimmer and philately enthusiast, studied A Level at Hwa Chong Institution, Singapore under the ASEAN scholarship prior to pursuing War Studies in King's College, UK. The former national swimmer is currently pursuing her MBA at INSEAD, France under the Maxis scholarship.

Book specifications

1. The book will be printed in black & white to minimise production cost and market price.
2. The book will be between 200-300 pages thick.
3. The book will be published by end of 2009.

Royalty/Payment

1. As this is a community service project, none of the participants, project committee members and project advisors will receive any form of royalty or payment.

2. A fund raising campaign will be held later to raise money for the project. However, all excess funds will go towards distributing the books to students and secondary schools for free.

Contribute

1. We would greatly appreciate anyone who wishes to contribute towards our publishing fees.

2. We also welcome anyone who wishes to help in translating the book into Chinese and Malay after the first edition of the book goes into print.

Enquiries/Contact

The organising committee members, Chen Chow Yeoh, Chong Yong Wei Gabrielle, Goh Jing Pei, Kimberley Mei Kay, Tara Thean, and Charis Loke are not committed to any organisation. They were simply brought together for this project and are bound by their sincere enthusiasm for community service.

Participants, parents, interested sponsors and translators, as well as general inquirers may contact committee at whatsafterspm@gmail.com.