Indonesia may become one of the preferred destinations for Malaysian students to pursue higher education abroad, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

He said Malaysian students, who could not get places in the local institutions of higher learning, could opt to study in the republic.

Indonesia could become a good choice not only for medicine but also other disciplines, he told a news conference after meeting about 150 Malaysian students from Jakarta and Bandung at the Malaysian Embassy here Monday.

About 2,500 Malaysians are currently studying at 13 Indonesian universities recognised by the Public Service Department, especially in medicine, pharmacy and dentistry programmes.

On his meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Monday, Abdullah said Jakarta had agreed to speed up the issuance of the multiple entry visas to facilitate Malaysian students pursuing higher education in the republic.

The present single entry visas have to be renewed every year or each time the students re-enter Indonesia after going back to Malaysia.

Earlier in his speech, Abdullah advised the students to strive for high moral values, be upright and trustworthy besides excelling in their studies.

Also present at the meeting were Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed, Malaysian Ambassador to Indonesia Datuk Zainal Abidin Mahamad Zain and Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Rusdiharjo who accompanied Abdullah during his two-day visit which ended Monday.

– BERNAMA

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 25th, 2006 at 5:20 am and is filed under Education, Study Abroad. Tags: Education, Student, Study. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.