PETRONAS awards scholarship to 316 SPM leavers

PETRONAS on Sunday awarded scholarships to 316 SPM leavers to continue their tertiary education at prominent international and local universities under the company’s PETRONAS Education Sponsorship Programme (PESP) with a value of about RM100 million.

PETRONAS’ Senior Vice-President of Group Human Resource Management Division, Raiha Azni Abd Rahman said, “Since its corporation in 1974, PETRONAS has always seen education and human capital development as imperative elements in supporting the company’s growth.”

“Therefore, PETRONAS embarked on PESP with the objective of nurturing the right talents by giving them opportunities to realise their academic potential. This has benefited PETRONAS and ultimately the nation as it increased the number of skilled talents in various fields and disciplines in the country.”

She added PETRONAS hopes that the talents it nurtures today will make the most of the opportunities given and later share their knowledge with other people for the betterment of the company as well as the nation.

The scholarships were presented by Malaysia’s Second Education Minister, Dato’ Seri Idris Jusoh, in a ceremony held at Dewan Canselor of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) in Tronoh, Perak.

Among the 316 recipients, there were 15 students of the PERMATApintar Negara programme, an initiative by the Government of Malaysia to identify and nurture academically gifted and talented Malaysian students from the age of eight to 15 to develop their potentials.

Of the total, 148 will pursue their tertiary studies at foreign universities in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. The remaining will continue their studies at UTP. Under the PESP, PETRONAS will sponsor the students from foundation studies up to first

degree level.

Since its inception in 1975, PESP has benefited about 21,000 students nationwide with an estimated investment value of RM2.8 billion.

PETRONAS has set stringent selection standards based on merits which include outstanding academic performance, demonstrable co-curricular activities, proven leadership skills and socio-economic background.

Apart from PESP, PETRONAS also carries out a community outreach initiative that focuses on assisting underprivileged and borderline primary and secondary students across Malaysia to improve their overall academic achievement known as ‘Program Sentuhan Ilmu PETRONAS’ (PSIP).