2009/10/29

PUTRAJAYA: All National Defence University of Malaysia (UPNM) students will have to undergo cadet officer training from next June. They can also expect a higher allowance.

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said: "The cabinet has agreed that there will be no more civilian students at the university from the June 2010 intake onwards as all of them will be trained as cadet officers. This means that they will get to enjoy all the benefits of a cadet officer."

The monthly allowance for the first year of training will be RM1,200. It will increase after that.

He said the current batch of civilian students would have to undergo the cadet training programme as well. However, they will not receive allowances as they are getting loans from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation.

The minister said upon graduation, all cadets should be able to find jobs in the armed forces, the civil service or the private sector.

"Just because they are students here it does not mean all of them will get absorbed into the armed forces upon graduation.

"We want only those with the best qualifications and skills to be recruited into the armed forces," he said after launching the National Conference on Higher Education and Nation Building yesterday.

Also present were UPNM Vice-Chancellor Lieutenant General Datuk Zulkifli Zainal Abidin and Malaysian Universities Association president Tan Sri Nordin Kardi.