The higher education ministry has denied claims by Jitra assemblyman Haim Hilman Abdullah that international students are prioritised over locals in admissions to Malaysia’s research universities.
Higher education director-general Azlinda Azman ssid local students had always been given priority and were never sidelined when it came to opportunities to study at such universities.
“The assemblyman has repeatedly misled the public about our higher education policy on international students, which in turn confuses the people.
“The fact is, we place strong emphasis on protecting the interests of local students. There is no issue of sidelining them,” she told a press conference at the ministry here today.
Haim, a former Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) vice-chancellor, alleged at the recent PAS muktamar that the ministry had failed to safeguard the interests of local students, particularly in terms of access to higher education and employment opportunities.
He claimed that Malaysia’s five research universities offered 180,000 places, but that 21% of these had been filled by international students.
Responding to the allegation, Azlinda said that for undergraduate programmes, the intake of international students was limited.
She said that at the five universities – Universiti Malaya, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia – 91.6% of undergraduates were local students while international students accounted for only 8.4%.
“The main focus is on bachelor’s degree programmes, with subsidies provided exclusively for local students,” she said.
As of Dec 31, 2024, the five research universities had a combined enrolment of 180,024 students, of which 141,636 (78.7%) were locals and 38,388 (21.3%) were international students across both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
No cap for postgraduate programmes
At the postgraduate level, Azlinda said, enrolment was open-ended with no cap on international students as public universities actively promoted their academic quality and reputations in line with the existing policies.
“In reality, the data for undergraduate and postgraduate levels should not be lumped together as they are governed by different policies,” she said.
Azlinda added that as a former UUM vice-chancellor, Haim should understand how universities operated and be aware of the proportion of local versus international students.
“In fact, the same assemblyman, in a statement dated Oct 11, 2022, while still UUM vice-chancellor, acknowledged that international student enrolment at his university had risen by 13.97% for the 2022/2023 intake.
“This clearly shows that he himself supported and implemented international student admissions during his tenure,” she said.
