By Asmahanim Amir
Pix Izwan Azman

BANGI, Jan 27, 2016 – The Sime Darby Foundation (SDF) is providing academic grants worth RM1 million to students of the National university of Malaysia (UKM) who are selected to work through the Experience Work programme.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Industry and Community Partnerships), Prof Datuk Dr Imran Ho Abdullah said the academic grants are  different from the conventional  scholarships or other education loans because students will not receive academic grants directly provided by SDF.

“But they (students) need to work for it. Payment for students is in the form of salaries paid at a rate of RM15 per hour.

“The money earned by the students as  apperentices are the rewards of their hard work and help them pay the tuition fees and living costs at the university,” he said in the Submission Letter of the Experience Work Programme here on Jan 15.

He said the apperentices – dubbed the SDF ambassadors – will work after lectures or throughout the semester break and  they mostly do data mining, write minutes of meetings, make news coverages and write features of university events.

“Besides that, they also need to make a phone call to faculty partnerships and provide reports based on data analysis of graduate employability.

“The apperentices also need to be proficient in the latest presentation spreadsheets  such as Pretzi, excel spreadsheet, be able to multi-task, manage their time well, be diplomatic during discussions with management representatives of the university, interact confidently in English with the private sector and so on,” he said.

Prof Imran said a total of 25 students have been selected since May 2013 including seven this year.

“The period of the sponsorship is four years. This sponsorship is SDF’s way of assisting excellent students from low-income families.

“They will be groomed, so that they can be a credit to their university and country when they venture into working life later,” he added.

The apperentices who receive the academic grants need to work mot more than 20 hours per week and during semester breaks, they need to work less than 40 hours a week.

Each month, they will each receive salaries not exceeding RM800.

The programme is administered by the Industry Liaison Office  under the supervision of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Industry and Community Partnerships.