KUCHING, Oct 16: Sarawak must ensure graduates benefiting from its Free Tertiary Education Scheme (FTES) have a pathway to guaranteed, high-paying jobs locally before they collect their scrolls, rather than risk losing them to overseas employers, says Tanjong Datu assemblyman Azizul Annuar Adenan.
He said Sarawak must strengthen employment opportunities for its graduates to ensure its substantial investment in free tertiary education translates into long-term economic benefits for the State.
“Because the scheme carries no service bond, what stops Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, or Western multinationals from poaching our best engineering and tech minds the moment they graduate?
“If we fund their degrees only to watch them board flights abroad, we risk becoming a tuition-paying incubator for foreign economies,” he warned when debating the Sarawak Budget 2027 at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUNS) sitting today.
