February 29 – United Overseas Bank (UOB) university scholarship programme award ceremony was held at Park Royal Hotel. H.E. Robert Chua, Singapore Ambassador to Myanmar, Ian Wong, Managing Director and Head of Group Strategy and International Management of UOB Group, Professor Khin Naing Oo, Rector of Yangon University of Economics, Professor Pho Kaung, Acting Rector of University of Yangon and other distinguished guests attended at the event. UOB awarded scholarships to 15 outstanding undergraduates in Myanmar. This is the second cohort of the UOB University Scholarship programme which includes five students from University of Yangon and ten from Yangon University of Economics. Thus, the total number of scholars in the programme now has reached 30. Each student will have their tertiary education fully funded by UOB.
The scholars will receive financial assistance from UOB and will have an opportunity to apply for internship positions with the Bank to support their ambitions to contribute towards Myanmar’s economic future. They were selected based their academic achievements, language proficiency and career aspirations.
The UOB university scholarship programme, launched in February 2015, is a partnership between UOB, the University of Yangon and Yangon University of Economics to help nurture top students from all backgrounds, including those who were less privileged, to realize their full potential. UOB has committed to fund $ 178,000 in the scholarship programme to support a total of 45 undergraduates from two partner universities.
Harry Loh, Country Manager of UOB Myanmar, said “as UOB expands in Myanmar, we believe we have a responsibility to support the long-term progression of the country and its people. The UBO university scholarship programme is one of the ways in which we give back to the local community. Through this programme, we want to help open doors for the best and brightest students in Myanmar and give them an opportunity to reach their full potential and contribute to society”
H.E. Robert Chua, Singapore Ambassador to Myanmar, said “Singapore and Myanmar are close neighboring countries. Singapore has been a steadfast development partner of Myanmar. So far, Singapore has conducted training courses and study visits for over 12,500 Myanmar civil servants in various fields, including English Language training, Economic Development, Public Administration, Trade and Tourism promotion, Legal and Financial cooperation, as well as Urban Development and Master Planning. The Singapore Ministry of Finance and Monetary Authority of Singapore have been supporting Myanmar’s human resource development and policy reforms in their close cooperation with the Myanmar Finance Ministry and Central Bank. Among the nine foreign banking licences issued by the Myanmar Government, two Singapore banks UOB and OCBC were issued the licences and has since started their operations. I believe that they will contribute to the development of the banking sector and support foreign investments in Myanmar’s growing economy”.
