Education Ministry Questioned For Promoting Scholarships to M’sian Students to Study in Russia

Recently, the Ministry of Higher Education were pleased to announce that Government of Russian Federation will be allocating a number of scholarships to Malaysian candidates to study in Russia.

In a social media post on the matter, the Ministry said that it is part of its initiative to educate a generation of brilliant and qualified individuals and to strengthen the partnership between Malaysia and Russia.

They also stated that 20 scholarships have been allocated for Malaysia for the 2023/2024 academic year and that the scholarships offered are for all levels of study including undergraduate (bachelor’s and Master’s) and postgraduate (medical residency, doctoral studies).

MoHE went on to urge the public to submit their applications and that candidates need to register at the official website of the scholarship programme.

Along with the post, they included a screenshot of the programme’s details.

Wrong timing?

The post by the Ministry has since gone viral for all the wrong reasons. Malaysians took to the comments section to accuse the government of being paid to promote travel to Russia whilst some claimed that it was just a scam to get Malaysians to go to Russia to fight for them in the war against Ukraine.

“Why allow this?? Please at least wait till the war is over. Too dangerous to send anyone there now.”

“This is a country at war and under a lot of sanctions, they are desperate,” said a netizen.

Another user commented, “What is this MoHE? Do you not know that Russia is in a war right now? What if Malaysians are instructed or conscripted and end up dead. Who’s to answer then?”

Meanwhile, a number of users made jokes regarding the appearance of the poster. They said that it appears to have been made by someone who has no knowledge in graphic design at all.

“Is that supposed to be an infographic? Yikes. So ugly. Who (would) want to read all that?”

“Thankfully graphic design is not on the list,” said a user sarcastically.

What do you think of the announcement as well as the poster? Let us know in the comments.

Also read: “Was this a paid tweet?” – Maszlee Malik Slammed For Promoting Local College’s Diploma in Aviation