The Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (website of ministry) overseas admission to public colleges and universities, and management of higher education. Malaysians students who have completed For 5 have a choice of attending polytechnics, community colleges or private colleges. To attend private or public universities, students are required to attend and pass one year of matriculation (at a university of college) or complete one and a half year of Form 6 and pass the STPM examination (equivalent to the A-levels).

There are 20 public universities in Malaysia and more than 30 private collages and universities. There are more than 400 small institutions all over the country offering various certificates and courses. All private colleges and institution and courses offered have to be registered with the Ministry of Education. With many institutions springing up all over the country, students should take extra care when applying to attend any college.

Entrance to public universities are very competitive and a quota is imposed by the government according to the composition of communities of various races. Most Chinese finds the entrance to professional courses highly restrictive and often have to attend private collages or universities to select a course of their choice. Fees in private universities are considerably higher than public universities.

General entrance requirements for students to universities in Malaysia:

• The main entrance requirement is the results the CGPA for diploma holders, the matriculation examination or STPM.
• Malaysian University English Test (MUET), which stared in 1999, is administered by the Malaysian Examination Council (Majlis Peperiksaan Malaysia). Grades (called bands band 1, poor to band 6) of this exam is just to determine the competency of the student in English and whether they need to take extray english courses. However, entry to competitive professional courses such as medicine and pharmacy requires a student to get a higher band.