5 ways MARA has helped Malaysian students since 1950

Previously introduced as the Rural & Industrial Development Authority (RIDA) in July 1950, before becoming rebranded as MARA in the year 1966, Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) has always strive towards Malaysian student development, especially Bumiputera.

Their goal is to produce a group of local entrepreneurs in the corporate sector, technopreneurs, retail, manufacturing and contracting authority, and such efforts need to be nurtured from school.

1. Dewan Latihan RIDA to Universiti Teknologi MARA

In November 1956, Dewan Latihan RIDA began it's operation in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. The Dewan Latihan was a preparatory course trial center for English stream students from rural areas.

It was the idea of Dato’ Onn Jaafar from his visit to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in the year 1951.

In June 1966, Dewan Latihan RIDA was renamed to Maktab MARA, and in the year 1967 it was again renamed as Institut Teknologi MARA (ITM). On 26 August 1999, ITM was officially known as Universiti Teknologi MARA or UiTM.

2. Focus on technical and vocational studies

To produce excellent human capital, Mara introduced clusters of educational institutions across the country that covers two main routes, namely academic, technical and vocational education or TVET.

The TVET training made available via the many subsidiaries of Mara range from certificate level in GiatMara and Institusi Kemahiran Mara (IKM).

Diploma and Higher National Diploma (HND) are available in Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi, German-Malaysian Institute (GMI) dan Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL), which focus on aerospace, maritime technology, automotive, electronics, medical and other fields of engineering.

TVET graduates will be highly sought in the near future as identified by TalentCorp. Read about it here.

3. MRSM

Maktab Rendah Sains MARA (MRSM) was established under the Majlis Amanah Rakyat Act Number 20 Year 1966 as an effort to achieve MARA's goals in the field of training and education.

MARA as a statutory body has its own financial system to help advance education and development of Bumiputera entrepreneurs.

With 51 colleges currently under their belt, MARA has plans to add another seven MRSM colleges in the 2015 Budget 2016 and the 11th Malaysia Plan (RMK-11).

4. Financial aids

MARA has helped countless students in achieving their dreams for a bright future.

Through scholarships and loans provded by MARA, students are able to continue their education locally and abroad, and in return bringing in the expertise they have learned back to industries in this country.

MARA also collaborate with JPA in giving scholarships to outstanding students through the JPA-MARA Scholarship Program.

Find a scholarship that will fit your needs here.

5. International standard pre-university options

MARA is the pioneer in bringing in affordable international pre-university options such as International Baccalaurette (IB), A-levels, the KPM Matriculation programme and University Foundation programmes.

These colleges are introduced for students to prepare themselves before stepping into any bachelor's degree programmes in public and private universities, or overseas.