Study in Malaysia.
What it is really like — the numbers, the good and the harder parts, where the universities are and what a month costs. Then the programmes, all 1,182 of them.
159,138
international students at Malaysian universities and colleges
MOHE, as of 31 Dec 2025, July 2026#56
Universiti Malaya, the country's highest-ranked university
QS World University Rankings 2027, June 2026Why students choose it
Living costs well below the UK or Australia
EMGS puts an international student's average living cost at about US$582 a month. For comparison, a UK student visa asks you to show £1,171 a month outside London and £1,529 in it.
Taught in English
Most university programmes are taught in English, and English is used every day in the cities — so you study and live in the language you are learning.
Foreign degrees, closer to home
Eleven foreign universities run branch campuses here, alongside Malaysia's own universities — a UK or Australian degree without the UK or Australian cost of living.
A student visa handled in weeks
EMGS commits to processing a complete student-pass application in 14 working days. Incomplete ones take longer — which is why we check every document before it goes in.
Muslim-friendly and multicultural
Halal food is the norm and mosques and prayer rooms are easy to find, in a country where Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures live side by side — with students from more than 180 countries.
Worth knowing first
You still need an English test score
Universities ask for a result — MUET, IELTS, TOEFL, PTE Academic or Cambridge English, among others. Our courses get you ready for it; they do not replace it.
Work is limited
Students may work up to 20 hours a week, and only during semester breaks or holidays of more than seven days, in set jobs such as restaurants, petrol kiosks, mini markets and hotels. Plan to fund your studies without it.
Attendance and grades keep your visa
The student pass is renewed every year, and renewal needs at least 80% attendance and a CGPA of 2.0 or more.
Medical insurance is compulsory
You buy an approved Malaysian plan for your whole stay — RM 498 to RM 644 a year on the 2026 plans — and have a medical check within seven days of arriving.
Warm, humid and rainy
It is warm all year — the temperature barely changes between seasons — and humid, at 80–88% on the Peninsula. The northeast monsoon brings heavy rain to the east coast from about December to March, and some years bring haze from fires outside the country.
Bringing family depends on your level
Master's and PhD students can usually bring a spouse and children; for undergraduates it depends on nationality. Dependants may not work. Ask us before you plan around it.
Our 32 Malaysian partners are in 9 states, and 22 of them are in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor — the Klang Valley, where the trains, the airport and most of the jobs are. The rest are in quieter university towns, where rent is lower. Choose a state to see who is there. We also have 3 partners in China.
East Malaysia shown closer than it is. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, geoBoundaries (ODbL).
Kuala Lumpur
- Al-Madinah International UniversityKuala Lumpur · Private · 24 programmes
- Asia Pacific UniversityKuala Lumpur · Private · 22 programmes
- Australia International College of Business & TechnologyKuala Lumpur · Private
- IMU UniversityBukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur · Private · 31 programmes
- Open University MalaysiaKuala Lumpur · Private · 33 programmes
- UCSI UniversityKuala Lumpur · Private · 59 programmes
- Universiti Kuala LumpurKuala Lumpur · Private · 77 programmes
- Universiti MalayaKuala Lumpur · Public · 56 programmes
- Universiti Tun Abdul RazakKuala Lumpur · Private · 32 programmes
- University of Geomatika MalaysiaSetiawangsa, Kuala Lumpur · Private
A month for one student, from published ranges in ringgit — reviewed September 2026. Kuala Lumpur sits at the top of each range; the university towns nearer the bottom.
Costs are in Malaysian ringgit.
Every month, before rent
- Food
- RM 450 – RM 1,000
- Transport
- RM 50 – RM 250
- Utilities and internet
- RM 100 – RM 250
- Books, phone and personal
- RM 100 – RM 300
- Before rent
- RM 700 – RM 1,800
Hawker and food-court meals run RM 8–15; cooking at home is cheaper again, and eating in restaurants is a great deal more.
Kuala Lumpur's unlimited student pass for LRT, MRT, monorail and buses is RM 100 a month. Ride-hailing instead of public transport is what pushes this to the top of the range.
Electricity, water, broadband and a mobile plan. Air-conditioning is most of the variance.
Course materials, laundry, a haircut, the occasional weekend.
Add where you live
A room in university accommodation. Cheapest, closest, and the easiest thing to arrange before you arrive.
A room in a flat shared with other students. The most common arrangement after first year.
Your own place. Common in Kuala Lumpur, and the top of the national range.
What a degree costs — typical total tuition
- Foundation
- RM 20,895
- median of 32
- Diploma
- RM 34,780
- median of 101
- Bachelor
- RM 73,100
- median of 414
- Master
- RM 29,410
- median of 358
- PhD
- RM 48,600
- median of 122
The median of the whole-programme fees our partner universities list, in ringgit; fees given per year, per semester or in US dollars are not averaged in. The first year also brings the student pass, visa and medical — see Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS), Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management & Technology, EMGS.
1,182 programmes at our partner universities, each with its fee as the university lists it. Start with a subject.
Tell us where you are starting from.
Send a counsellor what you have studied and what you want to study. They come back with the universities that fit, the English level you would need and what it will cost — free, with no obligation.
Or reach us directly — inquiry@premium.edu.my · +603 2740 0711