28 Malaysian Universities Target Indonesian Students

The Malaysian Embassy, together with Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS), is holding a higher education exhibition in Jakarta from 11 to 12 July 2026. A total of 28 Malaysian higher education institutions are participating in the exhibition to provide direct exposure to students and parents regarding study programmes and the advantages of pursuing education in Malaysia. EMGS Chief Executive Officer Novie Tajuddin said that Malaysia offers three advantages encapsulated in the ‘3T’ concept, namely Tetangga (Neighbour), Terakui (Accredited), and Terjangkau (Affordable). “Universities in Malaysia that offer these programmes provide internationally recognised qualifications, and their rankings are among the best in the world,” Novie stated in Jakarta on Saturday (11/7). Novie explained that several Malaysian universities are currently ranked among the world’s top 200 campuses. Moreover, he said, tuition fees in Malaysia are relatively efficient, far below the cost of studying in Western countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, or Canada. “For public universities, the tuition fee alone is approximately 20,000 ringgit per year, or around 80 million rupiah. For private universities, it is about 30,000 to 40,000 ringgit per year,” he said. Echoing this sentiment, the Secretary General of Malaysia’s Ministry of Higher Education, Aminuddin bin Hassim, emphasised that this event is a strategic platform for building relationships between communities, institutions, and governments. He stated that the educational synergy between the two countries is crucial, especially to support the Priority Research 2026 programme launched by Indonesia’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Kemdiktisaintek). “This aspiration is very close to the agenda of Malaysia’s Ministry of Higher Education, which also emphasises impactful research, university-industry cooperation, and the commercialisation of innovation,” Aminuddin said. This academic cooperation is also directed towards complementing each other in various strategic fields, ranging from food security, energy, health, downstreaming, digitalisation, to artificial intelligence (AI). “As kindred nations, Malaysia and Indonesia have an important role in becoming catalysts for a more open, inclusive, and competitive ASEAN higher education space,” Aminuddin concluded.