Malaysian Pursues PhD at Cambridge After Securing Three Scholarships

Tan Chee Yong, from Kajang, Selangor, was recently awarded with three scholarships to pursue his doctoral degree (PhD) at the prestigious University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. He received the Cambridge Trust Scholarship, the Tunku Abdul Rahman Postgraduate Scholarship of St. Catharine’s College, as well as a fund from the Malaysian Commonwealth Studies Centre (MCSC) in Cambridge.

The 24-year-old recently graduated from the University of Cambridge with distinction after completing his Master of Philosophy in Sociology. He has been living in the UK since 2017 where he pursued his Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in International Relations at King’s College London after receiving the Khazanah Global Scholarship.

Tan plans to focus on Malaysia’s development policy and future for his PhD dissertation and dreams of working as a policy consultant or diplomat for his home country following the completion of his studies.

He stated that he has hopes for Malaysia to have a more inclusive approach in planning for the welfare of the people, “Three main things that are lacking in our country are equity, human capital and development.”

Image via The Star

Tan found interest in this subject following his passion for current affairs and social science. He has also always dreamed of studying abroad, however, had to face dire challenges along the way. His father passing away while he was still in primary school followed by his mother passing away following a battle with cancer when he was preparing for scholarship interviews as an A-Level student at Methodist College Kuala Lumpur.

Tan said that, “My mother was my inspiration and motivation as she was a strong woman. She made me believe in what I wanted to do.”

As an only child, Tan only had himself to rely on to achieve his tertiary education dreams and found fulfilment in debate teams and submitting essays to newspaper expressing his views on development policies in Malaysia.

His biggest advice for students would be, “Never give up despite the challenges you face and always ask yourself this: Who do you want to be at the end of the day? I, for on, want to make my friends and family proud.”

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