1. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMOF MALAYSIA

3. Geographical Location Located between 20 and 70 north of Equator. Peninsular Malaysia is separated from the states of Sabah and Sarawak by the South China Sea. To the north of Peninsular Malaysia is Thailand while its southern neighbor is Singapore. Sabah and Sarawak are bounded by Indonesia while Sarawak also shares a border with Brunei.

5. About Malaysia Malaysia is well-endowed with natural resources in areas such as agriculture, forestry and minerals. In terms of agriculture, Malaysia is one of the top exporters of natural rubber and palm oil, which together with sawn logs and sawn timber, cocoa, pepper, pineapple and tobacco dominate the growth of the sector. Palm oil is also a major generator of foreign exchange.

6. Tin and petroleum are the two main mineral resources that are of major significance in the Malaysian economy. Malaysia was once the world's largest producer of tin until the collapse of the tin market in the early 1980s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, tin played a predominant role in the Malaysian economy. It was only in 1972 that petroleum and natural gas took over from tin as the mainstay of the mineral extraction sector.

7. Government Malaysia is a federalconstitutionalelective monarchy. The federal head of state of Malaysia is the Yang di-PertuanAgong, commonly referred to as the King of Malaysia. The Yang di-PertuanAgong is elected to a five-year term among the nine hereditary Sultans of the Malay states; the other four states, which have titular Governors, do not participate in the selection.

8. Legislative power is divided between federal and state legislatures. The bicameral parliament consists of the lower house, the House of Representatives or Dewan Rakyat (literally the "Chamber of the People") and the upper house, the Senate or Dewan Negara (literally the "Chamber of the Nation").

9. Executive power is vested in the cabinet led by the prime minister; the Malaysian constitution stipulates that the prime minister must be a member of the lower house of parliament who, in the opinion of the Yang di-PertuanAgong, commands a majority in parliament. The cabinet is chosen from among members of both houses of Parliament and is responsible to that body.

10. Administrative divisions Administratively, Malaysia consists of 13 states (11 in peninsular Malaysia and 2 in Malaysian Borneo) and 3 federal territories. Each state is further divided into districts (daerah or jajahan in Kelantan) and a subdivision of a district is called mukim. As Malaysia is a federation, the governance of the country is divided between the federal and the state governments.

11. EDUCATION Pre-School Attendance in a pre-school programme is not universal and generally only affluent families can afford to send their children to private, for-profit pre-schools.

12. Primary Education There are two main types of public primary schools in Malaysia: national (SekolahKebangsaan in Malay, abbreviated as SK) and national-type (SekolahJenisKebangsaan, abbreviated as SJK). National-type schools are further divided into Chinese national-type schools (SekolahJenisKebangsaanCina, SJK(C)) and Tamil national-type schools (SekolahJenisKebangsaan Tamil, SJK(T)).

13. Primary education begins at the age of 7 and ends at 12. Students are promoted to the next year regardless of their academic performance (poor curriculum induced). By degree of government funding, national schools are government-operated, while national-type schools are mostly government-assisted, though some are government-operated.

14. Primary education consists of six years of education, referred to as Year 1 to Year 6 (also known as Standard 1 to Standard 6). Year 1 to Year 3 are classified as Level One (TahapSatu) while Year 4 to Year 6 are considered as Level Two (TahapDua). From 1996 until 2000, the PenilaianTahapSatu (PTS) or the Level One Evaluation was administered to Year 3 students. Excellence in this test allowed students to skip Year 4 and attend Year 5 instead.

15. Secondary Education Secondary education in Malaysia is conducted in secondary schools (SekolahMenengahKebangsaan) for five years. National secondary schools use Malay as the main medium of instruction. • The only exceptions are the Mathematics and Science subjects as well as languages other than Malay, however this was only implemented in the year 2003.

16. Malaysian national secondary schools are sub-divided into several types: National Secondary School (SekolahMenengahKebangsaan) Religious Secondary School (SekolahMenengah Agama) National-Type Secondary School (SekolahMenengahJenisKebangsaan) Technical Schools (SekolahMenengahTeknik) Residential Schools and MARA Junior Science College (MaktabRendahSains MARA).

17. Pre-University After the SPM, students from public secondary school would have a choice of either studying Form 6 or the matriculation (pre-university). If they are accepted to continue studying in Form 6, they will also take the SijilTinggiPersekolahan Malaysia (which is usually abbreviated as STPM) or Malaysian Higher School Certificate examination

18. Form 6 consists of two years of study Lower 6 (TingkatanEnamRendah) Upper 6 (Tingkatan Enam Atas) •Although it is generally taken by those desiring to attend public universities in Malaysia, it is internationally recognised and may also be used, though rarely required, to enter private local universities for undergraduate courses.

19. Tertiary education Tertiary Eduication is heavily subsidised by the government. Applicants to public universities must have completed the Malaysia matriculation programme or have an STPM grade. Excellence in these examinations does not guarantee a place in a public university.

20. The classification of tertiary education in Malaysia is organised upon the Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF) which seeks to set up a unified system of post secondary qualifications offered on a national basis both in the vocational as well as higher educational sectors.

21. Students also have the choice of attending private institutions of higher learning. Many of these institutions offer courses in cooperation with a foreign institute or university. Some of them are branch campuses of these foreign institutions.

22. Some foreign universities and colleges have also set up branch campuses in Malaysia, including: Monash University, Australia. The University of Nottingham, United Kingdom SAE Institute, Australia Swinburne University of Technology, Australia Curtin University of Technology, Australia Raffles Design Institute, Singapore

23. Postgraduate programmes Postgraduate degrees such as the Master of Business Administration (MBA) and the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) are becoming popular and are offered by both the public universities and the private colleges. All public and most private universities in Malaysia offer Master of Science degrees either through coursework or research and Doctor of Philosophy degrees through research.

24. Vocational programmes and polytechnics schools Besides the university degrees, students also have the option of continuing their education in professional courses such as the courses offered by the ICSA (Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators) etc. Polytechnics in Malaysia provide courses for diploma level (3 years) and certificate level (2 years).

25. Other types of Schools Islamic religious schools Chinese independent high schools International schools