MUSCAT: The Cultural Attaché Office at the Sultanate’s embassy in Malaysia is striving serve all Omani students coming to study in Malaysia through providing them with all kinds of support and assistance such as to overcome any issues or challenges that they may face in their studies.
Another important task is to create cooperative relations with Malaysian educational and cultural institutions.
Visa delay is one such setback and probably the most serious one, said Yahya bin Salam al Mandhari, Cultural Attaché of the Sultanate’s embassy in Malaysia. He said: “Student visa in Malaysia has existed since 2012 and largely affecting self-sponsored students.
The problem includes both visa issue and renewal and affects not Omani students but all foreign students in Malaysia. Visa rules in Malaysia have been updated allowing new international students to get a visa for the entire study programme excluding the foundation and English language programmes. Another amendment allows the students who have secured an admission to directly apply for a visa on the EMGS website.
“Since 2012 the Cultural Attaché Office has been exerting enormous efforts to address the visa delay issue. It held a number of meetings between 2012 and May 2017 with the Malaysian embassy in Muscat, the ministry of higher education of Malaysia, the Inspector General of Royal Malaysian Police, the Immigration Department of Malaysia, the Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS) and Malaysian universities. Besides, representatives of the Cultural Attaché Office attended several meetings and conferences dedicated to discussing the students’ visa procedures the latest of which was held by EMGS on May 25, 2017.
The conference was attended by officials from the ministry of higher education and the Immigration Department of Malaysia and representatives of 17 embassies. It discussed all the problems facing international students in Malaysia and came up with promises from EMGS to address all the issues,” Al Mandhari added.
According to the Malaysian ministry of higher education statistics the number of Omani students in Malaysia has reached 795, of whom 60 per cent are undergraduates and 40 per cent postgraduates.
Students who wish to study in Malaysia are advised to explore the student’s guide available on the website, find out about the laws and organisational rules with regard to foreign missions, such as scholarship and financial assistance act, electronic transactions act, anti-fraud act, accredited non-Omani educational institutions and qualification status of the certificates that they offer, and regulation concerning students’ clubs and associations outside Oman.
Students are also required to enhance their creativity through further reading, exploration, and participation in cultural and social activities at convenient times in line with the academic requirements in order to develop their talents and represent Oman, as they are its true representatives in the field of science and knowledge.
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