Malaysia is truly Asia, situated by the South China Sea and with a colorful array of ethnicity, diverse culture and natural beauty; Malaysia is a futuristic city with many colorful feathers in its crown. Malaysia has emerged as a great tourist destination and has jumped leaps and bounds to be reckoned as a top destination for higher education in Asia. 

Choose to study in Malaysia and you’ll discover that the country’s natural beauty extends way beyond its ancient rainforests, national parks and glorious beaches. In the cities too, there’s plenty to keep all the senses occupied, from colorful and varied markets to the mosques, Buddhist temples and Hindu shrines that are often found side by side, and the profusion of annual festivals celebrating both traditional and modern aspects of Malaysian culture.

One of the world’s most politically stable countries, Malaysia may be second to Singapore in terms of regional economic clout, but it offers a much more organic lifestyle than its city-state rival. One half of the country, situated on the southern tip of the peninsula below Thailand, is known as Peninsular Malaysia. This is where the highest ranked universities in Malaysia can be found, along with the most diverse and vibrant urban areas. The other half, Malaysian Borneo, shares an island with Indonesia and remains the quieter of the two halves, offering solitude, authenticity and jungle life.

Universities in Malaysia
Malaysia is home to several international branch campuses of universities from other countries, a plan aimed at expanding and improving the country’s range of higher education options. Existing branch campuses include those operated by the UK’s University of Nottingham and Australia’s Monash University.

Malaysia’s investment in branch campuses has resulted in the new EduCity development in Johor, at the southernmost tip of Peninsular Malaysia, just 5km north of Singapore.  This 350-acre campus will be shared by eight international branches run by leading universities from around the world. These include the UK’s University of Reading, the University of Southampton and Newcastle University Medicine, as well as the Netherlands’ Maritime Institute of Technology, Singapore’s private Raffles University and the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts from the US.

While the growing presence of overseas universities in Malaysia is broadening the country’s higher education offering, its home-grown universities shouldn’t be overlooked. Malaysia’s higher education system was ranked 25th in the QS Higher Education System Strength Rankings in 2018, reflecting the strength of its flagship universities. Here are some of the most notable.

University Malaya (UM)
The highest-ranked and oldest university in Malaysia, University Malaya (UM) is ranked joint 70th in the QS World University Rankings and is based in central Kuala Lumpur. With a student population of around 21,050, including over 2,900 international postgraduate students, UM has been steadily growing its multidisciplinary reputation, appearing in the global top 400 for 35 out of a possible 48 subjects covered by the QS World University Rankings by Subject, including positions among the world’s top 50 for development studies, every branch of engineering, and library and information management.