KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 — Some 150 Malaysian medical science students in Egypt may be forced to drop their studies as they face a whopping RM4.5 million-debt pile brought on by the weakened value of the ringgit.
Berita Harian reported today a representative of the Malaysia-Egypt Medical Science Students Association (Perubatan) saying Malaysian students studying medicine, pharmacy and dentistry in eight universities in the Middle East country are struggling to pay their tuitions fees which comes up to RM33,033 (US$8,000) annually.
According to the Malay daily, the high-scoring students have accumulated a total debt pile of RM4.5 million in student loans.
“The issue of backdated fees payment has become more serious after the fall of the ringgit at the end of last year, it affected the exchange rates on the US Dollar and Pounds, which made the cost of fees higher.
“The cost of living in Egypt has doubled by 50 per cent in the past two years alone. The situation here has stressed us out especially those that have no scholarships or sponsorships,” Perubatan president Ikraam Abdul Latif was quoted saying.
He added that many students were now broke and forced to seek public funds to get by.
Ikraam also said the students are now trying to work with Education Malaysia Egypt for a temporary resolution to their financial woes while they look for a permanent solution.
The Malaysian students affected are studying medicine, dentistry and pharmacy at Al-Azhar University, Cairo University, Ain Shams University, Zagazig University, Alexandria University, Tanya University, Mansoura University and Assiut University.
