PSD scholarship holders must return

NST: PUTRAJAYA: Aside from education loan defaulters who owe the Government millions, the Public Service Department (PSD) also has a problem with overseas scholarship holders who don’t want to come home.
The PSD has stationed at least two officers at embassies and consulates in the countries where sponsored students are studying to look into their welfare and to make sure they come home. The PSD sponsors 1,300 students a year abroad.
"The officers liaise with the embassy and the universities our students are studying at. Their main task is to make sure that students complete their studies and come back home, ready to serve the country.
"In other words, they have to monitor these students and make sure they return for good," said PSD corporate communication unit chief Hasniah Rashid.
Though a few PSD scholars who decided not to return had paid back the money spent on them, Hasniah says PSD views such "reluctance to serve the country" seriously.
PSD spends about RM1 million for a five-year course for a medical student while about RM800,000 is spent on an engineering student, though costs are rising. Hasniah added that the PSD was flexible if students wished to delay their return to get a postgraduate degree or even to get married.
"The maximum postponement allowed is four years. They have to return after that, whether they like it or not," she said, adding that with the deployment of PSD officers abroad, the number of sponsored students who disappeared after completing their studies had been minimal.
Hasniah said that aside from the 1,300 scholarships to study abroad, 5,000 scholarships would be made available next month to those studying at local universities. The PSD also offers about 500 loans a year to students studying abroad. Priority is given to students doing critical courses such as medicine, pharmacy, dentistry and engineering.
On the loan defaulters who owe the Government RM284 million, Hasniah said the department would soon be referring its list of blacklisted students to the Immigration Department.
She recently said they may be stopped at exit points to prevent them from leaving the country.
The department is also working closely with the Inland Revenue Board and National Registration Department to trace 16,000 "hardcore" defaulters.