Bernama reported that the students would pursue courses in chemical engineering, petroleum engineering, economics, law, and other industry-related fields at Universiti Teknologi Petronas and leading institutions in the UK and Australia.

The recipients, who were selected from nearly 9,000 applicants, excelled in their 2024 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination.

Apart from their strong academic performance, they were also chosen based on their leadership potential and active participation in co-curricular activities.

The scholarships were awarded under Petronas’s flagship Powering Knowledge programme.

State women, early childhood and community wellbeing development minister Fatimah Abdullah thanked Petronas for its continued investment in Sarawak’s youth and said such efforts support the state’s goal of becoming a high-income, developed region by 2030.

“The relationship between Petronas and Sarawak is long-standing and deeply rooted, and the efforts by the former consistently demonstrated a deep understanding of the true value of human capital,” she said in a speech at an event in Kuching.

Since its inception in 1975, Petronas’s education sponsorships have benefitted over 40,000 Malaysian students, including more than 1,300 Sarawakian students.