Australia and Malaysia have a long history of engagement based in education.  Even before independence, Malaysian students were studying in Australia universities in significant numbers and the advent of the iconic Colombo plan added a narrative to these international student movements that still resonates in both countries today.

The Australian education links with Malaysia are now deeply embedded in the relationship and mature.  With three branch campuses of Australian universities currently in Malaysia, and a majority of Australian universities represented through other transnational education partnerships, the number of students in Australian programs in Malaysia is currently at the same level as the number of Malaysians studying in Australia. The upward growth in transnational education numbers can be expected to continue given the Malaysian government’s plans to make the country a regional higher education hub. The Australian universities of Monash, Curtin and Swinburne are joined in Malaysia by 5 other higher education institutions from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Australian undergraduate programs in Arts, Social Science and Science are recognised for public service employment purposes. Increasingly post graduate qualifications from Australian institutions are also popular.

Focuses for the IEG office, apart from providing country education sector regulatory information and briefing include promoting Australian student mobility and supporting Austrade’s Vocational Education and Training marketing efforts.

Memorandum of Understanding on education between Australian and Malaysia: 

Malaysia (1.87mb) - signed 3 March 2011

Memorandum of Understanding on higher education between Australia and Malaysia:

​	Malaysia (English - 564 kb) (Malaysian - 549kb) - signed 14 November 2012

More education and training Memoranda of Understanding are available from the About IEG page.