GUIDELINE FOR

UNIVERSITI MALAYA SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME (UMSS)

1. BACKGROUND

This document serves as manual and guideline on the processes, conditions and procedure of Universiti Malaya Scholarship Scheme (UMSS) which offered to the postgraduate students to be implemented at Universiti Malaya (UM).

2. DEFINITION

Universiti Malaya Scholarship Scheme (UMSS) refer to the higher degree students (Masters or Doctorate) who are appointed as Graduate Research Assistants (GRA), whether or not they receive tuition fee waivers based on eligibility criteria.

3. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Applicants need to meet the eligibility criteria for the GRA offer to qualify for the stipend payment and the tuition fee waiver eligibility criteria to be considered for the fee waiver assistance.

(A) ELIGBILITY CRITERIA OF GRA OFFER

1. 1. Open to the Masters or Doctorate students (Malaysian and non-Malaysian) who are pursuing coursework, mixed-mode or full research program in Universiti Malaya (UM) with Ready for Enrolment (RE) or Active (AK) status in MAYA system and subject to the condition outline by the Research Grant;

1. 2. Applicant have obtained the offer letter for their Masters or Doctorate study from UM;

1. 3. Duration of the GRA offer shall be at least four (4) months or subject to the condition outline by the Research Grant;

1. 4. Minimum stipend payment amounting RM1,000.00 and subject to the condition outline by the Funding Agency/Research Grant;

1. 5. Stipend payment must be from Grant Vot 11000 allocation. The allocation research grant must be sufficient to pay for the stipend throughout their appointment as GRA;

1. 6. Applicant not be sponsored or received any kind of financial support from federal/state/statutory body or any other organization;

1. 7. Applicants must be free from any debt / outstanding fees with UM;

1. 8. This offer is subject to the terms and conditions outline by the Funding Agency/Research Grant;

1. 9. Applicants must be within the following semester at the time of application, i.e.:
      1. Masters programme: 10 semester and below
      2. Doctorate programme: 12 semester and below

(B) ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR TUITION FEE WAIVER

(1) Open to the Masters or Doctorate students (Malaysian and non-Malaysian) who are pursuing full research program in Universiti Malaya (UM) with Ready for Enrolment (RE) or Active (AK) status in MAYA system;

(2) Applicant fulfilled eligibility criteria to be offered as GRA;

(3) Applicant offered as GRA at least four (4) months in the semester of application;

(4) Applicant must be in the Graduate on Time (GoT) semester at the time of application as follows:

a) Masters programme: 5 semester and below

b) Doctorate programme: 7 semester and below

(5) Consideration for tuition fee waiver application shall depend on the recommendation by Principal Investigator and approval by Executive Director of Institute of Research Management and Services (IPPP);

(6) Waiver rate for the tuition fee (for those qualified) in the applied semester are as follows:

(7) List of fees that are NOT waived are the following:

a) Thesis Submission fee

b) Examination fee

c) Graduation fee

d) International Student fee (for international students only)

4. OPERATIONAL COST

Principal Investigator is fully responsible in securing the operational cost for Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) stipend payment is sufficient throughout the offer period. In ensuring the research management is effective, the Principal Investigator required to do

the calculation with exact amount of stipend payment offered. The amount of stipend is compulsory to align with the condition and guideline outline by the Funding Agency/Research Grant.

5. STIPEND PAYMENT

1. Monthly stipend is subject to the Schedule of Payment Salary published at UMPortal or UM Research website;

2. Notification on the number of salary to the UMSS awardee and the process of monthly stipend by Institute of Research Management and Services (IPPP) will only be proceeded once the supporting documents mentioned in the offer letter complete together with two (2) copies of UMSS agreement that had been stamped by Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri (LHDN) received by IPPP. The mentioned documents shall be received prior to the final date of salary to be processed as stipulated in the Schedule of Payment Salary;

3. In any case the documents are received by IPPP after the final date of monthly salary to be processed, the stipend will be processed in the next cycle of salary payment as stipulated in the Schedule of Payment Salary;

4. The offered Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) may consider to be paid for their backlog monthly allowance not more than three (3) weeks from the date of offer acceptance;

5. Should there be any urgent requirement or circumstances which cannot be avoid, the Principal Investigator shall refer to the IPPP immediately;

6. For international students who have been offered as GRA, it is required to attach a copy of their validated Visa and Pass with the other supporting documents. The stipend will only be paid based on the validity of their said Visa and Pass.

6. ACCEPTANCE OF UMSS OFFER

1. UMSS Awardee shall complete, sign and stamp two (2) copies of UMSS agreement;

2. UMSS awardee shall undergo and fulfil the mentioned activities and key performance indicator of UMSS;

3. UMSS awardee shall submit their research progress report (for mixed-mode and full research program) as stipulated by their academic programme every semester;

4. UMSS agreement shall be ended once the awardee graduated or submitted their final thesis within semester as per detailed below:
   1. Masters programme: Maximum 10 semesters
   2. Doctorate programme: Maximum 12 semesters

5. UMSS awardee not necessary to undertake any teaching workload;

6. The following matters will cause the stipend payment and tuition fee waiver to be stopped immediately and the UMSS agreement to be breached:
   1. Failure to fulfil terms and conditions UMSS;
   2. Failure to undergo and fulfil activities and key performance indicator (KPI) of UMSS;
   3. Change programme of study or field of study without written approval to IPPP;
   4. Semester deferment without any written approval from Principal Investigator and notification to IPPP;
   5. Hold any positions either “contract” or “temporary” status and/or have agreement bonded with any organization/federal body/state body/statutory body.

7. UMSS awardee require to repay amounting RM20,000.00 for Masters programme or RM25,000.00 for Doctorate programme to UM in any case the terms and conditions stipulated in the UMSS agreement not fulfilled; or the agreement breached or terminated; or the awardee withdraw from their programme of study.

7. PROCEDURE OF UMSS OFFER AND ACCEPTANCE

1. Application of UMSS is through Research Assistant Recruitment System (RARS);

2. Principal Investigator required to complete Letter of Declaration for UMSS and upload in the RARS system;
3. The Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) can be offered up to three (3) years depends on the grant active period and sufficiency of stipend payment allocation;​​​​​​​

4. The offer letter signed by Executive Director of Institute Research Management and Services (IPPP);

5. Only one (1) UMSS application allowed for each semester;

6. Only complete application documents will be accepted for review and consideration;

7. Applications with incomplete documents or fraudulent documents will be rejected;

8. The decision on selection of candidates is final and any appeal will not be entertained;

9. UMSS offer and acceptance are as follows:

8. PROCEDURE OF UMSS RE-OFFER

1. Principal Investigator required to submit the application of re-offer to IPPP within two
2. months until two (2) weeks period before the current offer ended.

2. If the application of re-offer as GRA using the same research grant and Principal Investigator from the previous, following are the procedure:

3. If the application of re-offer as GRA using different research grant and/or Principal Investigator, the procedure in 7 should be followed.

9. ACTIVITIES AND KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR (KPI) OF UMSS

1. UMSS Awardee required to undergo activities as follows:

1. 1. Involved in research activities at UM;