PETRONAS Committed in Nurturing Talent to Support Industry & Nation's Human Capital Needs

Seri Iskandar, Perak, 20 July 2019 – PETRONAS awarded sponsorships to 291 outstanding Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia achievers here today, for them to pursue their tertiary education locally and abroad in various disciplines under the PETRONAS Education Sponsorship Programme (PESP). 

The students are part of a total of 400 sponsorship recipients this year. The total investment for PESP in 2019, valued at about RM156 million, is part of PETRONAS’ ongoing corporate social responsibility efforts towards education.  

In his speech at the PESP award presentation ceremony, PETRONAS President and Group CEO, Tan Sri Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin said: “Despite the volatility in the global economy and depressed oil prices, investing in talent continue to remain a priority to PETRONAS. PESP is definitely a testament to PETRONAS’ continuous commitment in building a sustainable pipeline of educated and skilled talents. We believe in education as the vehicle to empower our communities to improve their living standards and capabilities, with the aim to enrich lives and progress the nation forward.”

He also shared with the young scholars on the importance of continously demonstrating the right values in realising their potentials.  “You are indeed the pipeline of our future leaders, who are one day will continue the Amanah and fulfil the PETRONAS’ Statement of Purpose - A progressive energy and solutions partner enriching lives for a sustainable future.” he added.

Tan Sri Wan Zulkiflee presented the sponsorships to the recipients at the award presentation ceremony in UTP, accompanied by PETRONAS Senior Vice President of Group Human Resource Management, Dato’ Raiha Azni Abd Rahman.

The sponsored students will be pursuing their Bachelor’s degree at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) as well as top-ranked international higher learning institutions in Australia, Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States. 

PETRONAS is also sponsoring its first batch of Software Engineering students this year, given the rapid growth in digital advancements and technologies.

The other recipients received their sponsorships at three other award presentation ceremonies in Kuala Terengganu, Kuching, and Kota Kinabalu recently.

This year, PETRONAS received more than 7,300 sponsorship applications. Apart from the standard prerequisite of achieving excellent SPM results and co-curricular activities, each candidate had to go through a rigorous selection process, in which leadership qualities and the ability to work in a team, were assessed.

Since 1975, PETRONAS has sponsored over 36,800 Malaysian students under the PESP with over RM3.3 billion worth of sponsorships, providing financial support from foundation studies up to their first degree in petroleum engineering, mechanical engineering, geophysics, finance, law and other industry-related courses at top universities around the world as well as at UTP.

Issued by
Media Engagement Department 
Group Strategic Communications 
PETRONAS