Maybank, in collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat, has launched the first-ever $1.2 million ASEAN-Maybank Scholarship (AMS) programme, which will benefit 25 students from the 10 ASEAN countries. The programme will begin this year and continue until at least 2025.
The scholarships are part of Maybank’s continued commitment to investing in the future of ASEAN youth through education, Maybank said in an April 7 press release.
AMS is designed to provide young, talented and deserving ASEAN nationals – especially those from lower-income segment – with full scholarships to pursue their undergraduate education in prestigious universities outside their own countries, but within the ASEAN region.
For this year’s first intake, a total of three scholarships are being offered, which will progressively be increased to 10 a year by 2025 and thereafter.
Maybank chairman Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa – also chairman of the Maybank Foundation – said Maybank was honoured to partner with the ASEAN Secretariat to launch the first intake for this scholarship programme to deserving students in the region.
“This is part of our commitment to invest in the future generation through education and help promote greater understanding among the people of ASEAN,” he said.
Zamzamzairani added that Maybank is hopeful the scholarship programme would encourage greater intra-ASEAN integration by boosting educational links between member countries.
“We hope the recipients will go on to positively impact their communities by becoming change makers and leaders, and contribute to the region’s economic and social development,” Zamzamzairani said.
Tran Duc Binh, deputy secretary-general of ASEAN Community and Corporate Affairs, said the AMS programme highlights the bloc’s commitment to working with various stakeholders to prepare the region’s youth for a brighter future by enhancing opportunities for their education and employment.
“The ASEAN Secretariat looks forward to the successful implementation of the scholarship so as to bring more opportunities to the youth, the leaders of the future,” he said.
For the inaugural 2022 intake, the three scholarships will be available for first-year undergraduates who will be placed in top public universities in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand or the Philippines, and this will gradually be expanded to the remaining ASEAN countries.
Students may undergo a three- or four-year programme, studying in fields such as finance, information technology, psychology, economics, marketing, law, human resource, banking, mathematics, or future ready-related courses such as programming, coding, creative design, data and science.
Scholarship recipients will also have the opportunity to conduct internships either at the ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN Foundation or Maybank offices regionally, noted the press release. They will be given the chance to participate as volunteers in Maybank Foundation programmes run together with the ASEAN Secretariat and the ASEAN Foundation.
Upon graduation, scholars will serve a three-year bond in either the Maybank Group, ASEAN Secretariat or ASEAN Foundation.
The ASEAN-Maybank scholarship is one of the ASEAN-level initiatives undertaken by the Maybank Foundation, which is a newly accredited ASEAN entity. It aims to promote an innovative ASEAN approach to higher education, which is one of the strategic measures listed in the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint 2025.
Ro Vannak, co-founder of the Cambodian Institute for Democracy, said all such benefactions – whether from large companies or wealthy individuals – make a significant contribution to poverty reduction through investment in human resources.
“I hope that Cambodia’s potential young students will take advantage of this opportunity to better participate in the socio-economic and political development of Cambodia,” he told The Post on April 18.
