Malaysian students to experience Jordanian life through home-stay programme

Dato' Abdul Malek Bin Abdul Aziz (Photo courtesy of the Malaysian embassy)

AMMAN - Malaysian students in the country's universities will have the chance to live with Jordanian families and learn local traditions and customs through a new initiative, according to Malaysia's top diplomat in Amman.

Under the "home-stay" programme, to be launched by the Malaysian embassy in cooperation with Mutah University in July, Malaysian students will not only live with Jordanian families but also be involved in community service activities, Malaysian Ambassador in Amman Dato' Abdul Malek Bin Abdul Aziz said in an interview Thursday.

"The programme will help Malaysian students be more interactive with Jordanians… it is about people-to-people contact and we want them to stay with bedouins and with Jordanians across the country," the envoy told The Jordan Times.

Currently, there are up to 769 Malaysians enrolled in several public and private universities in the Kingdom majoring in medicine, dentistry, Islamic jurisprudence, Arabic, Islamic theology and Islamic economics in addition to information technology and computer sciences.

Haji Sulaiman Bin Ismail, director of the student department at the Malaysian embassy, said there are plans to enact the programme with other universities, adding that Malaysian students will be involved in a social work programme starting June 18 to help the elderly at the White Beds Society.

"Our government is interested in increasing the number of Malaysian students in Jordan due to the vast expertise Jordanian universities enjoy, the high standard of facilities and the excellent approach in teaching," the ambassador said.

However, he noted, the number of Malaysian students is limited by a quota system, which he said is mainly due to "limited teaching facilities and staff in local universities".

The diplomat said the Ministry of Higher Education decided this year to increase the quota of Malaysian students in medicine from 60 seats to 80, predicting the number of Malaysian students to reach 1,000 by the next scholastic semester in September.

One major challenge Malaysian students face while studying in the country, the ambassador said, "is the medium of instruction used in the classroom, as colloquial Arabic is more widely used than the standard Arabic, which Malaysian students are more accustomed to".

The Malaysian diplomat also called for facilitating visa procedures for the students, adding: "It takes them two weeks sometimes to complete the procedures."

Some potential measures that would help increase the number of Malaysian students in Jordan include standardising fees charged to Malaysian nationals and Jordanians at the Kingdom’s universities and providing scholarships for Malaysians, he said.

Cooperation between Jordan and Malaysia in the field of education started in 1995, and 27 memoranda of understanding have been signed between higher education institutions in both countries.

According to embassy figures, there are 676 Jordanians studying in Malaysia as of December 2008. Those enrolled in public universities are postgraduate students specialising in science, information technology and engineering, while those in private universities are mostly undergraduates.

"Jordan and Malaysia have shared visions and we want to complement each other... there is great potential for cooperation in this sector," said the ambassador.

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They were also delighted with Satay kajang and other sumptuous Malaysian food served at the reception.  Welcoming the MTCP Alumni, Malaysian Ambassador Dato’ Abdul Malek bin Abdul Aziz hoped that the Alumni would set as a platform for networking among members and help to promote Malaysia’s image as they are considered friends of Malaysia in Jordan. He then launched the logo of the MTCP Alumni, Jordan. In his remarks,   Mr Mohammed Kokash, President of the Alumni thanked the Malaysian Government for organising the MTCP that had given them the opportunity to learn and exchange development experiences with Malaysians and other foreign course participants useful for building human capital in Jordan.

Since the MTCP programme was instituted in the 1980s, over 240 Jordanian government officials have benefited from various MTCP courses and seminars in Malaysia.

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