JAKARTA (Bernama): The ASEAN Global Exchange for Mobility and Scholarship (ASEANGEMS), a one-stop scholarship portal, has grown to offer more than US$25 million (US$1 = RM4.09) in scholarships and university incentives, up from US$5 million when it was launched just a year ago.
Beyond the growing pool of scholarships and university incentives lies a broader ambition introduced by Malaysia during its ASEAN Chairmanship in 2025, to test whether a single digital gateway can make academic opportunities across the bloc easier to discover.
For years, students seeking to study elsewhere in the region have often had to navigate individual university websites, each with its own scholarship schemes, admission requirements and application processes, making it difficult to compare opportunities across borders.
Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS) chief executive officer Novie Tajuddin said the portal's fivefold growth in scholarship and university offerings reflects the increasing uptake of ASEANGEMS, a platform jointly established by EMGS and Malaysia's Higher Education Ministry.
"It was created to centralise information on scholarships, academic mobility programmes and other incentives offered by participating higher education institutions, allowing students to explore opportunities across ASEAN through a single platform,” he told Bernama.
Novie said the initiative addresses a longstanding challenge faced by students, who previously had to approach universities individually to enquire about scholarships and financial assistance.
"Previously, students had to go to each university to ask about its scholarship offerings, but now they can simply visit ASEANGEMS to see which institutions are offering scholarships and other incentives before contacting them directly,” he said.
Via the portal, he said participating universities would upload information on their financial assistance packages, including tuition fee discounts, accommodation incentives, full fee waivers for foundation programmes, and programme-wide tuition discounts.
As of end-June this year, he noted that the portal hosted 1,934 scholarship and higher education offers from institutions in five countries, with a combined value of US$25.5 million.
"The portal also recorded 57,163 visitors, 69,380 page views and 279 user registrations, with Indonesia accounting for the highest number of registrations at 140, followed by Malaysia (74) and Vietnam (33),” he said.
Novie said the portal has continued to evolve under the Philippines' ASEAN Chairmanship this year with the introduction of a research information feature.
He said the new feature enables lecturers and researchers to search for research grants and collaboration opportunities available across the region, expanding ASEANGEMS beyond student mobility and scholarships.
Although the latest enhancement was introduced by the Philippines, Novie said EMGS continues to manage the portal while working closely with ASEAN partners to further develop and promote it.
"We need to promote it more widely because it centralises information, and it would be a waste if people were not aware that ASEANGEMS exists,” he said.
He added that the portal covers opportunities at all levels of higher education, including undergraduate and postgraduate studies.
-- BERNAMA
