Malaysia Welcomes Senior Citizens on its e-Campus

Earlier this week it was reported on Bernama.com that the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) will continue to allow senior citizens to enroll in distance learning classes and be eligible for a tuition discount.

This is the second year seniors have been a part of the university's e-campus.

USM Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Academic and International Affairs, Prof Datuk Syed Ahmad Hussein said this was to promote a culture of lifelong learning and allow generations to interact. Speaking to reporters after the welcoming ceremony for new students of the distance learning programme he said of this year's 1,600 new students, 35 were senior citizens.

He said that all courses were opened to senior citizens, except certain professional courses such as on medicine, engineering and accounting which required on-campus training. "For the time being, the distance learning programme will only offer arts courses as it does not require them to be on campus all the time and this will enable them to work and study at the same time," he said.

He said a 50 per cent discount is given to the senior citizens to encourage them to take up degree courses.