PUTRAJAYA: Malaysian students remain the priority when it comes to admission into public universities, with more than 90% of seats going to local students.
“We place great importance on the interests of local students and have never once considered sidelining them,” said Higher Education director-general Datuk Prof Dr Azlinda Azman (pic).
Dismissing claims that foreign students were getting more places than Malaysians, she said the five research universities had a composition of 91.6% local students and 8.4% international students.
As of Dec 31, 2024, the five universities – Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) – had a total enrolment of 180,024 students, she said.
“Of this number, 141,636 students or 78.7% are locals, while 38,388 students or 21.3% are international students.
“The 21.3% comprises both undergraduate and postgraduate enrolments,” she told a special press conference on the issue of internationalisation in higher education yesterday.
Prof Azlinda said undergraduate and postgraduate data cannot be combined as both levels have different policies.
“At the undergraduate level, international students make up just 8.4%.
“Government subsidies are provided only for Malaysian undergraduates, while international students’ fees are paid in full.
“For postgraduate programmes, admissions are open without restrictions,“ she said.
Prof Azlinda was responding to claims by Kedah exco member Dr Haim Hilman Abdullah that the Higher Education Ministry had failed to prioritise local interests, particularly in ensuring access to higher education.
He alleged that international students accounted for 21.3% of enrolment at the five research universities, a figure he said was much higher than the proportion of local Chinese students, which stood at 13.5%. The Indians, it was reported, only make up a small number.
Prof Azlinda said the claim was baseless, noting that Haim Hilman, himself a former vice-chancellor of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), should understand how universities operate, including the balance between local and international student enrollments.
She recalled that in 2022, when Haim Hilman was still with UUM, he had announced a rise in international student enrollment (13.97%) for the 2022/2023 session, indicating he had supported international student recruitment.
“He himself agreed to and implemented the policy of recruiting international students as stated in the Malaysian Higher Education Development Plan 2015-2025.
“Therefore, it is not appropriate to create the perception that local students are being marginalised. We want the public to understand the real data so that there are no misunderstandings,” she said.
Malaysian Examinations Council chairman Datuk Dr Md Amin Md Taff also backed Prof Azlinda, saying that postgraduate studies – which cover Master’s and Doctoral Degree (PhD) programmes – are not separated into quotas for local and international students, but assessed based on talent.
“Of course, local students are always given consideration.
“The higher proportion of international students mostly comes from the postgraduate level, which depends on each university’s capacity.”
