Mara offers 32,000 study opportunities for school leavers

TAWAU: Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) is an educational investment division that is committed to offering 30,000 study opportunities at local higher institutions of learning and another 2,000 at overseas institutions with the objective of producing competitive human capital.

Its director-general, Datuk Ibrahim Ahmad, said Mara performs its mission towards five human capital outcomes – to generate future leaders, professionals, technologists, technopreneurs and experts in a particular field.

Mara has received about 60,000 intake applications up to now and 30,000 of these have been accepted after screening requirements. This shows that Mara has taken the initiative to create many study opportunities at local higher institutions of learning, especially for students who have completed the SPM and STPM examinations.

Ibrahim, therefore, encouraged school leavers to grab the available opportunity by taking any of the high added-value courses such as aerospace, maritime, psychology, public policy and medicine. It would serve as a vital measure for balancing the physical and non-physical attributes of the country’s economics.

He said this to the media after officiating at the state-level Mara Education Carnival 2013 held at the district community hall here yesterday.

The two-day carnival which began yesterday, saw the participation of about 60 educational booths.

“There are about two million Mara beneficiaries who have contributed to the country’s economic empowerment or to aptly describe it as ‘giving back’ to the country. This shows that human capital development has a great impact on the country’s development.

“On rough count, the Mara community comprise almost 30 per cent of the active workforce that is contributing to our country for almost four decades. Along the way, Mara, at appropriate times, made adjustments to its entire programme and strategies in order to fulfil the nation’s stated aspirations,” Ibrahim pointed out.

Ibrahim added Mara had played a vital role as a socio-economic engineering agency and indeed as cited by Rural Development and Regional Minister Datuk Seri Haji Mohd Shafie Apdal, Mara should have the vision to make preparation for a new generation of Bumiputeras that is able to handle challenges.

The main focus of Mara’s transformation is to propel the Bumiputeras’ participation in the economy based on innovation (i-based economy) through four strategies, namely, i-entrepreneurs, i-workers, i-investment and i-organisation. These four strategies are to be driven by entrepreneurship, education and investment factor.

For the July 2013 intake, Mara Education Institution (IPMa) is offering not less than 40,000 study opportunities for school leavers; at Kolej Profesional Mara (1,575), Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi Mara (1,418), Institut Kemahiran Mara (3,262), Kolej Poly-Tech Mara (5,460), German Malaysian Institute (936), Universiti Kuala Lumpur (5,323) and GiantMara (25,000).

Also present at the carnival were Sabah Mara director Zulkarnain Zakaria, Tawau Municipal Council vice-president Tai Yun Wu and assistant district police chief, superintendent Keong Ho Eng.

Source : Borneo Post