Have integrity, repay PTPTN loans, students told

Students who have completed their studies should have the integrity and honesty to repay their National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loans, Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Mary Yap Kain Ching said Friday.

She said they should not run away from their responsibility to repay their loans.

"I would like to remind borrowers to repay their loans so that other aspiring students will not be deprived of the opportunity to further their studies.

"This is an issue of integrity," she told reporters after closing the 20th Malaysian Education Summit 2016 in Bandar Sunway, here.

Yap said the PTPTN system was comparable to loan repayment systems in the United Kingdom and other developed nations.

On March 23, the Dewan Rakyat was told that a total of 662,983 borrowers failed to make repayment of their PTPTN loans amounting to RM5.4 billion as of Dec 31, last year.

Yap also said despite the tough economic times, the government was still giving much emphasis on higher education by allocating RM13.8 billion.

She said 20,000 MyBrain15 scholarships were offered in 2016, of which 15,000 were for Master Programmes and 5,000 for doctorate (PhD) programmes, the biggest allocation by the ministry so far.

She noted that the government was also aiming to produce 60,000 PhD scholars by 2023 via MyBrain programme.

The summit is an annual education conference, bringing together key decision makers, policy formulators, academicians and investors to discuss pertinent education issues facing the country.

The two-day summit which started on Thursday was organised by Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (ASLI).