Malaysia continues to be the preferred choice for International students - Noraini

She said although the number of applications to further studies in Malaysia has declined slightly following the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation improved in 2021 as the number rose again to up to 32 per cent.

"The situation was strengthened when Kuala Lumpur was ranked second in the QS Top Universities 'Most Affordable City for Students' for the year 2018 and 2019. In other words, the tuition costs are affordable," she said at Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS) 10th anniversary dinner here last night.

Noraini added that there were several factors that could attract and encourage more foreign students to study in the country, such as the quality of education which is recognised as world-class.

"QS World University Rankings in its report a few weeks ago recorded that four of our universities are listed in the top 200 in the world, and one of them, namely Universiti Malaya is in the top 100 .

"In fact, for the first time, 24 institutions of higher learning (IPT) in Malaysia have been listed in this ranking. This will definitely increase outsiders' confidence in the quality of higher education in our country," she said.

As such, she called on entities such as EMGS to be more active in promoting the Malaysian education brand at the international level.

Meanwhile, EMGS chief executive officer Radzlan Jalaludin said the company was committed to achieving greater success in its efforts to promote Malaysia as the higher education hub of choice globally.

He said since its inception in 2012 until today, EMGS has advanced aggressively to improve its services as the main body managing the movement of international students in Malaysia, including facilitating the visa management process.

"The achievement can be seen by the number of applications which has surpassed the target for 2021 where a total of 40,000 applications were received from international students to further their studies at Malaysian IPTs.

"This is indeed a great success for EMGS and we will continue to support the government's aspiration to meet the target of 250,000 international students by 2025," he said.