SIBU, Nov 10 — Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg today announced three incentives from the state government for students who wish to further their studies at Universiti Teknologi Sarawak (UTS).

The incentives are part of an initiative to make education affordable and accessible to the underprivileged in Sarawak, namely the UTS Foundation Scholarship, UTS Undergraduate and Postgraduate Scholarship and UTS Bursary Scheme.

In addition, he said students could obtain other financial assistance from the Sarawak Foundation in the form of interest-free study loans to cover learning and living costs while studying at UTS.

"With the availability of scholarships and other financial incentives, it will provide more opportunities for Sarawakians from all levels to further their studies at Universiti Teknologi Sarawak, which is fully owned by the Sarawak state government.

"This initiative will also provide greater access to higher education to students in rural areas, especially students from the B40 and M40 categories,” he told reporters after officiating UTS here today.

He explained that the Basic Scholarship was in the form of tuition fees amounting to RM10,000 for each student, where the government would spend RM4.5 million to RM7 million a year, based on the maximum of 700 basic programme students at UTS.

The Undergraduate and Postgraduate Scholarship scheme, meanwhile, provides a 50 per cent reduction in tuition fees for all undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, where based on a five-year projection, the government’s commitment is RM17.2 million to RM27 million per year, based on a capacity of 4,000 students.

The Bursary scheme, said Abang Johari, was a collaboration between UTS and the Sarawak Foundation, which aimed to help Sarawakians from the B40 and M40 categories with an 80 per cent reduction in tuition fees.

"This scheme will accommodate a total of 100 Bumiputera students and 100 non-Bumiputera students a year, where based on the five-year projection, will involve an RM3 million per annum commitment from the government,” he said.

Through the incentives, UTS, which was previously known as the University College of Technology Sarawak (UCTS), is expected to be able to increase the number of students to 4,000 by 2024.

Abang Johari also announced the state government’s agreement to a proposal by Assistant Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research Dr Annuar Rapaee to establish the Datuk Patinggi Dr Wong Soon Kai Research Chair in Medical Device Technology and Innovation with RM2 million in funding from the state government through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology Research.

The establishment of the chair is to commemorate the late Dr Wong, who was a pioneer local surgeon from Sibu, and Abang Johari expressed confidence that the former’s family would agree to the initiative.

Dr Wong, who was the third president of Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sarawak (SUPP) and also former deputy chief minister of Sarawak, passed away on March 22, 2017.

UCTS, which had been established in 2013, was awarded the status of a full-fledged university by the Ministry of Higher Education on November 20 last year.

It is now known as UTS, effective November 8, 2021. — Bernama