Malaysia Education and Training Services Industry Snapshot
Last published date:

Capital:  Kuala Lumpur

Population:  33.9 million (2022 est.)

GDP (Purchasing Power Parity):  $855.6 billion (2020 est., in 2017 dollars)
Currency:  Ringgits (MYR)

Language:  Bahasa Malaysia (official), English, Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai

 

UNESCO Student Mobility Number
Malaysia has 55,311 students studying abroad according to UNESCO.

CIA World Factbook
43.43% of Malaysia’s population is under 25 years of age.

OVERVIEW

According to the Open Doors data for the 2021-2022 school year, Malaysia had 4,933 students studying in the United States.  While the United States had been steadily attracting more students from Malaysia since 2010, the number of students peaked in the 2017-2018 academic year with 8,271 students.  Today represents a 40% decrease over the high point in 2017-2018.

The number of scholarships to study in the U.S. offered by Malaysian companies and government agencies has recently declined, but major companies such as Khazanah Nasional, Petronas, and Bank Negara continue to fund U.S. educational opportunities.  Many of these scholarships, however, are reserved for Bumiputra students (Malay Muslim ethnic group).  Thus, students from Chinese, Indian, and other ethnic groups must find other routes for financing their studies abroad.  The Public Service Department (PSD) in Malaysia offers full scholarships to its National Scholars for undergraduate studies at top-ranked universities around the world, including those in the United States.

The primary sources of funding for Malaysian students are personal and family.  Malaysian students are generally known to be good and serious students.  Malaysian government and private corporation scholarships are a secondary source of funding for Malaysian students.  Successful Malaysian government scholarships applicants must be accepted into a TIMEs Higher Education (T.H.E.) World University Ranking Top 100 school to have access to these funds. 

T.H.E. is part of the Thomson Reuters Group.  Due to continued U.S. government commercial diplomacy efforts, the Malaysian government is willing to explore alternatives outside the T.H.E. Top 100 ranked institutions.

The top five international education destinations for Malaysian students other than the U.S. are Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, Indonesia, and New Zealand, with the majority going to Australia and the United Kingdom.

SUB-SECTORS

International Education Overview

International Education Overview

 

2017/18

2018/19

 

2019/20

 

2020/21

 

2021/22

Number of Malaysian Students in U.S.

8,271

7,709

6,910

5,280

4,933

Percentage Change from Previous Year

+0.35%

-6.8

-10.4

-23.6

-7.0%

 

Source IIE Open Doors Report

 

Below are the top five fields of study for Malaysian students in the U.S.:

·       Chemical Engineering

·       Business and Management & Accountancy

·       Electrical and Electronics Engineering

·       Architectural/Built Environment

·       Physical and Life Sciences/Chemistry

Although most Malaysian students are still seeking four-year university undergraduate degrees, the U.S. Commercial Service in Malaysia is seeing an increased interest in associates, graduate, and post-graduate degrees as well.  Optional Practical Training (OPT) involving internships, either pre- or post-completion of degree, is gaining market traction as well.

 OPPORTUNITIES

Academic

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

2021/22

Undergraduate

5,817

5,104

4,333

2,996

2,670

Percentage of Change from Previous Year (%)

4.2

-12.3

-15.1

-30.9

-10.9

Graduate

1,116

1,061

1,069

995

1,029

Percentage of Change from Previous Year (%)

 

-12.1

 

-4.9

 

0.8

 

-6.9

 

3.4%

Non-Degree

115

153

110

44

48

Percentage of Change from Previous Year (%)

 

-48%

 

33.0

 

-28.1

 

-60.0

 

9.1%

OPT

1,223

1,391

1,398

1,245

1,186

Percentage of Change from Previous Year (%)

 

3.9%

13.7

0.5

-10.9

 

-4.7%

Source: IIE Open Doors Report

Malaysia aspires to be a regional and international education hub.  The Malaysian government is strongly encouraging international education partnerships and collaboration and is also pushing Malaysian public and private higher education institutions to become more research oriented.  Twinning between Malaysian and foreign institutions [2+2 (i.e. two years in Malaysia followed by two years study in the U.S.), 3+1, and 4+0 programs] and foreign education institution branch campuses, are various forms of collaboration opportunities.

DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES

Digital marketing in Malaysia is rapidly growing and becoming a competitive industry, especially with the current global pandemic and the increase of smartphone penetration in the country.  While there were 29.55 million internet users in Malaysia in January 2022 with an internet penetration rate at 89.6 percent of the total population, the number of social media users in Malaysia at the start of 2022 (30.25 million) was equivalent to 91.7 percent of the total population. Additionally, with 42.11 million mobile connections at the beginning of 2022 that was up 1.6 million over the previous year.

Google is widely used to search for information.  Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and WhatsApp are the most popular social media sites in Malaysia.

The Ministry of Education has also launched an e-learning platform “Classruum” that provides online lessons, including video tutorials, notes, trial examinations, and gamification.  Subjects that students will need to know for their major exams are taught on the platform.  All lessons comply with the Education Ministry’s syllabus and are taught by a selected group of Malaysian teachers and tutors.  The pre-school education mobile application, “Classruum Playlabs” is designed for small children from four to six years old to educate them about colors, numbers, and the alphabet.  Another new platform, “Brain Box”, which focuses on skills, such as cooking, gardening, sewing, carpentry, and foreign language, is also being considered.

Jobstreet and Indeed are the most widely used search engines to look for job opportunities.  YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook are widely used for streaming.

TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (TVET)

TVET is essential in bridging the talent gap in the industrial sector.  With that, Malaysia has identified 12 hubs for TVET, including automotive, semiconductor, marine, aerospace, robotics, telecommunications, hospitality, and tourism.

Department of Statistics Malaysia reported that for the second quarter of 2022, the number of jobs in the semi-skilled category remained dominant in the labor market at 62.2 percent, followed by highly skilled jobs at 24.9 percent and unskilled jobs at 12.9 percent. 

For Malaysia to stay competitive, it needs to increase the number of highly skilled workers to more than 4.5 percent by 2030.  Initiatives that enhanced local students to major in TVET and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses continue to be highly enriched as Malaysia seeks to produce skilled workers who capitalize on the opportunities created by IR4.0.

EVENTS

RESOURCES

U.S. COMMERCIAL SERVICE CONTACT

Janet Suan, Commercial Assistant

U.S. Commercial Service – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Email:  Janet.Suan@trade.gov 

Phone:  +603 2168 5050