With final exams for her undergraduate degree just weeks away, Edith MacIntyre was thrilled to receive a conditional offer to begin master's studies at the University of Malaysia in July.
However, having racked up a M$26,000 (HK$56,000) debt for a four-year bachelor of education, the 24-year-old knew full-time postgraduate study was a luxury she could hardly afford - staying on at university would mean taking out a second student loan and working full time to make ends meet.
Or so she thought. The Malaysian government in March announced that it would provide scholarships for unemployed graduates to study master's and PhD programmes, making postgraduate courses a more affordable option for graduating students such as Ms MacIntyre.
The scholarships, which will be available to 10,000 master's and 500 PhD students, are part of the government's latest economic stimulus plan to help Malaysia cope with the global financial crisis.
With the unemployment rate expected to rise to 4.5 per cent this year, up from 3.5 per cent last year, the scholarships are designed to increase the number of postgraduate students and prevent more graduates from joining the ranks of the unemployed.
The Ministry of Higher Education's director general, Radin Umar, said the scholarships, which will provide M$10,000 for master's students and M$20,000 for PhD students, were designed to help fresh graduates and degree-holders who had lost their jobs.