By FOONG PEK YEE

KUALA LUMPUR: All 24 private institutions of higher learning qualify for the Government’s financial aid for post-graduate students from now on.

Those doing Masters and PhD programmes will get RM10,000 and RM20,000 respectively.

Prior to this, only the country’s 20 public institutions and three private institutions of higher learning qualified for the aid.

The aid, part of the second economic stimulus package announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in March, is open to those who are aged below 45 (during the time of application), compared to the previous age requirement of 35-years-old for applicants for the Masters programme and 43-years-old for PhD applicants.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, in a written reply to a question from Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting (BN-Kulai) as to whether the Government would extend the aid to private institutions such as Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, said the applicants would also need to have a CGPA2.50 now, instead of CGPA2.75 previously.

Apart from that, applicants must also be either unemployed, retrenched or not having a stable salary. New graduates are also encouraged to apply.

There are 10,000 places for Masters and 500 for PhD programmes.

At the Parliament lobby, Deputy Higher Education Minister Dr Hou Kok Chung said 3,377 applications for Masters and 225 for PhD programmes had been approved so far.