Malaysia: Questions raised by opposition on number of Chinese studying here

MALAYSIA: Politicians in Malaysia questioned why there were thousands of Chinese students in the country, arguing, wrongfully or not, that these students are barring locals from good education.

One of the universities that foreign students have always flocked to, for decades now, is the prestigious UniversitI Malaya (UM).

As it happens, the university posted a response to online flare-ups that there are too many foreigners studying in this country or that this is a national security issue.

To dissect this problem, we have to tell what the political parties in the opposition have been saying to their audience on the penetration of International students in local universities.

Perikatan Nasional (PN) politician Dr Haim Hilman Abdullah, a PAS leader and former university vice-chancellor, claimed that 32,546 students from China are studying in Malaysian public universities.

He alleged these foreign students displace local Malaysians from limited public university quotas, particularly affecting lower-income families.

Dr Haim Hilman, who previously served as the Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), has faced significant scrutiny and pushback from government officials for his statements regarding university admissions.

He claimed that the 32,000 figure represents the largest group of international students compared to the total number of 56,565 individuals placed across 20 public universities.

"Our children who are in public universities number around 634,706 people, and 56,565 are foreign students; if divided among the 20 IPTAs (public higher education institutions), that amount represents only about 8%. Furthermore, a major portion of the total foreign students are from China, followed by Indonesia with 4,737 people," he claimed.

The Kedah State Executive Councillor (Exco) said that based on the data obtained, 72%, or 41,097 out of the 56,566 foreign students, are located in the country's top universities such as UM, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).

Haim Hilman said the matter raised was not to dispute the presence of international students, but rather to question the allocation of places, which should prioritise local children.

Also, the Ministry of Education, as well as UM, gave some slapping answers, with the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) clarifying that international students do not displace local Malaysians because foreign students do not take up quotas from the centralised university admission system (UPU).

Local students enter public universities through established quota mechanisms, while international students are admitted via a separate, "over and above" international pathway that is not subsidised by the government.

Besides, MOHE emphasised that international students generate substantial revenue by paying full tuition fees and positively support university research outputs, campus diversity, and global rankings.

In a video on Facebook, UM said it is not a university where everybody gets access, and that includes locals and foreigners.

It says it is a place where new discoveries, innovations and explorations that are beneficial to the country are born.

For this reason, the UM not only needs students with basic qualifications, but also students with a master's degree and Ph.D. as the main drivers of the development of education.

"The goal of the University of Malaya in the next five years is the achievement of students with a ratio of 1 basic qualification student to 1.5 high qualification students. At the moment, there are 1 basic qualification student and 0.9 high qualification students," a spokesperson in the video said.

The spokesperson also gave a rough breakdown of who studies at the UM.

"We are aware that 5 out of 9 Malaysian Prime Ministers are graduates of the University of Malaya. In addition, hundreds of ministers and thousands of government officials are from the University of Malaya. In the case of the University of Malaya, until today, until July 1, 2026, the University of Malaya has 46,361 students.

"Out of that number, 22,148 or more or less 48% are undergraduate students. 80% are UPU students. 10% are international students from 80 countries."

"And another 10% are open source students, where they all need to meet the Merit Academic requirements. I want to emphasise that there is no back door. Only 39% are students from mainland China, out of the total number of students from the University of Malaya in this rank," he said.

In the end, it is interesting to note that political figures - even ex-academics - can easily be confused with the figures.

With the refutations from the authorities and universities, it is clear that Chinese students are not taking up spots reserved for locals.