The education services sub-sector covers a range of areas from early childcare education up to tertiary level and professional skills training. In line with country’s aspirations to become a regional education hub of excellence, the Malaysia Education Blueprint (2015-2025) charts the way forward by focusing on nurturing future-proof graduates and industry-ready talents that can thrive in the world of IR4.0 technologies.

Malaysia’s Private Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs) have grown in recent decades, supplying a constant stream of human capital for the country as well as the wider ASEAN region. We have over 400 private colleges offering Diploma and Bachelor programmes while many institutions private universities promote advancement to Masters and PhDs.

The number of university graduates in Malaysia increased by 4.4 per cent in 2020 from 5.13 million graduates in 2019. The PHEI industry which is worth RM31.5 billion in 2018 has the potential to grow to RM65 billion by 2026.

Malaysia’s diversified PHEI landscape features established international campuses such as Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak (Australia), Curtin University, Sarawak (Australia), Monash University Sunway Campus (Australia), University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UK), Heriot-Watt University Malaysia Campus (UK), Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia (UK), University of Southampton Malaysia Campus (UK), University of Reading Malaysia (UK) and Xiamen University Malaysia (China).

The unprecedented outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the rise of e-learning. In response to the new normal resulting from the pandemic, Malaysia’s higher learning institutions have embarked and adopted e-learning approaches such as Open and Distance Learning (ODL) practices. ODL has been an emerging trend to access quality education, create lifelong learning opportunities, and provide flexible modes of learning methods and conducive learning environment for young school leavers, university communities and the working population.