Foreign students in Malaysia: high-income nations preference

Malaysia is maintaining a toe-in-the-water approach to post-study work rights, despite indications that it could help achieve a longstanding goal of 250,000 international student enrolments by 2025.

The South-east Asian nation’s flirtation with post-study work rights has so far been restricted to citizens of high-income nations with lofty average earnings. The 23 countries whose students are entitled to the 12-month “graduate pass” introduced in December last year as part of a “visa liberalisation plan” include the US, Japan, Singapore, Australia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and north-western European nations such as the UK, Germany, Switzerland and Finland. The scheme was later tweaked to permit citizens of China and India to apply on a “case-by-case” basis if they could produce a “letter of good conduct” from an educational institution or embassy. However, the “extension” to Chinese and Indian nationals expired in 2024. Novie Bin Tajuddin, chief executive of Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS), has previously flagged “further” changes to attract “quality” international students.

Guy Perring, Kuala Lumpur-based regional director of educational benchmarking company Etio, says Malaysian higher ed institutions have spent years lobbying for more flexible work rules for students. “It’s a positive thing that they’ve actually created a list,” he says. “But of course, the reality is that the students who are attracted to Malaysia are not from the countries that are on that list.”

Perring says the focus on high-income countries reflects Malaysia’s desire for a more genuine two-way exchange with countries that host huge numbers of its students, such as Australia, Britain and the US. He says the government is also wary of opening the graduate employment floodgates, conscious of community perceptions about students monopolising jobs.

Nevertheless, the countries “realistically” likely to be attracted to employment in Malaysia lie in regions like South-east Asia, Africa and the Middle East. “I think they will eventually begin to tweak the policy,” says Perring.

EMGS statistics show that China has easily been the top country for applications to study in Malaysia this year, followed by Indonesia, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. However, data from course choice platform Studyportals suggests that the graduate pass may be having an impact. Malaysia’s share of global page views has risen by about one-quarter this year, with particularly strong increases from the US, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Studyportals says trends on its websites foreshadow international admission patterns 15-18 months later.

Malaysia has been at the forefront of a surge in demand for non-anglophone education destinations amid migration crackdowns in the West and an emerging Chinese preference for neighbouring countries. Monash University’s Malaysia campus has “certainly seen a spike from China,” according to chief executive Adeeba Kamarulzaman. “We’re happy that it’s happening, but we’re not putting all our eggs in one basket,” she says, explaining that Australia’s “backlash” against international students was partly a reaction to the dominance of particular nationalities.

Prof. Kamarulzaman says there’s discussion about “broadening” the graduate pass’ eligibility list to make it more “relevant”. She says Malaysian institutions are keen to “diversify the campus” by attracting students from under-represented countries. “When they come, they love it,” she says.