This country with top universities and low tuition fees has become the new hotspot for international students

Malaysia is becoming an increasingly popular study-abroad destination for international students, thanks to its highly ranked universities, affordable tuition fees and relatively low cost of living.

Malaysia boasts eight universities ranked among the top 500 in the 2025 QS World University Rankings. Moreover, the country offers a highly affordable lifestyle compared to other leading study-abroad destinations. For example, Malaysia has been estimated to be two-thirds less expensive to live in than the US and half as expensive as Canada and Ireland.

In addition to this, annual tuition for an undergraduate degree is on average US$6,000, as per an ICEF Monitor report.


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In 2023, all of Malaysia’s Top 10 markets were in Asia and Africa. India emerged as one of Malaysia's key source markets for international students, ranking fifth among the top contributors that year. Indian students submitted 1,900 applications, marking an 18% increase compared to 2022. This highlights the growing appeal of Malaysia as a study-abroad destination for Indian students.

As per the ICEF report, the Malaysian government has adopted a selective approach to post-study work policies for international students. In the previous year, students from 23 countries, including Australia, the US, the UK, Germany, Japan, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Switzerland, and Finland, became eligible for the 12-month Graduate Pass. These countries are not major sources of international students in Malaysia but were chosen to promote two-way internationalisation with nations hosting significant numbers of Malaysian students.

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In 2024, some Indian and Chinese students were also granted access to the Graduate Pass under specific conditions. Originally set to expire at the end of 2024, this policy has now been extended until the end of 2026.

The Graduate Pass appears to be attracting attention in target markets. Times Higher Education reports that “Malaysia’s share of global page views [on search platform Studyportals] has risen by about one-quarter this year, with particularly strong increases from the US, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.” We can also imagine that the Graduate Pass opportunity for Chinese students has factored into the sharp rise in applications from China in the past year.

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International students tend to come to Malaysia to obtain degrees. Undergraduate degrees remain the most popular, but since 2019, there has been much more growth at the master’s and postgraduate levels.

As per a Forbes report, “By adopting forward-looking strategies, [Malaysian institutions] are effectively ‘leapfrogging’ traditional limitations and reshaping the balance of academic power. The implications of this shift are profound, with potential impacts on global talent flows, research funding, and the distribution of academic influence for years to come.”