No plans to reduce number of MARA-sponsored students to overseas - Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub

The government does not have any plans to reduce the number of MARA-sponsored students to overseas, Rural and Regional Development deputy minister Datuk Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub said.

However, he said MARA will make some adjustments where the students will instead be placed in countries with lower cost of living.

"For example, we used to send students to the United Kingdom to study medicine but now we will focus in India. This is because of the high cost of living in UK," he said in replying to a question from (Jerlun-BN) MP Datuk Othman Aziz at the Parliament today.

He said such a move was necessary taking into consideration the current economic situation and added that such initiates would ensure more students are given the opportunity to study abroad.

To a supplementary question froom (Lumut-PKR) MP Mohammad Imran Abdul Hamid who wanted to know if the government plans to build more Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM), Ahmad Jazlan said the matter needs to be studied as applications increase every year.