Courses in Malaysia with High Student Enrollments

Every year right after the SPM results are announced, students will busy themselves applying for UPU to get into public universities (IPTA). It can be overwhelming when choosing courses and universities, but your decision must be based on interests and future plan.

With thousands of students applying for UPU, not everyone will secure an offer to pursue their studies at IPTA. How do the applicants get picked and have a successful application? It is said that the application is analysed based on the choice of courses or study fields. The SPM results also play an important role in determining the result.

Have you ever wondered what are the courses that are highly enrolled by IPTA students in Malaysia? The Ministry of Education shares its annual Quick Facts on Malaysia Educational Statistics.

In recent 2019 statistics, a table distributes the number of student enrollments for different fields of study.

The statistics compare nine fields of studies that 552,702 students pursued at public universities in Malaysia. Find out the nine courses that are most enrolled by students at IPTA below:

1. Social Sciences, Business and Law

33% of the total enrollments were from Social Sciences, Business and Law courses. These three courses are quite broad and have similar learning and academic goals. It directly links and engages with the matters of society. Under each course, there are specialisations and major fields sit under the branch:

Social science: Linguistics, Anthropology, Psychology, Political Science, Archeology, Criminology

Business: Business Administration, International Business, Marketing, Finance

Law: Criminal Law, Civil Litigation Law, Tort Law, Tax Law, Environmental Law, Construction Law, Corporate/Commercial Law

2. Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction

The second most popular courses among students are Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction. Out of all the total students who enrolled in public universities in 2019, 23.1% of them registered for these technical courses.

Engineering, manufacturing and construction are a part of the STEM fields and is still highly pursued by many Malaysian students. In reaching towards the industrial revolution, the government is encouraging many students to continue their studies in engineering.

Other engineering courses may include Civil Engineering and Computer Engineering.

3. Science, Mathematics and Computer

Science, Mathematics and Computer mark its 3rd position in the list as 15.6% of students registered to study the courses. Also among the STEM courses, it gives out a good percentage to represent students.

Most employers today would often hire graduates whose education background in computer science, information technology (IT) or any related field. It can be considered as one of the best courses that have better employment opportunities.

4. Arts and Humanities

Claiming the 4th spot, there was 9.2% of the total enrollments who went for Arts and Humanities. What’s the difference between Humanities and Social Sciences? The former involves a critical and analytical approach in its studies, while the latter deals with a scientific approach.

Some of the humanities course include law, history, ancient languages, history and visual/performing arts. As for Arts, it is a very broad field of study, it can be any specialisation courses like journalism, culture, language studies and more.

5. Education

6.5% of the total students who enrolled in IPTA pursued their studies in Education. Educators play an important role in the education sector. We can expect to see the senior generation to step down from their stage soon and pass the baton to young and fresh educators who just graduated from their specialised courses.

6. Health and Welfare

The statistics recorded 6.2% of the total student enrollments pursued their studies in Health and Welfare courses. The courses include Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Hospitality. Each course involves in dealing with human assistance, be it through medical and human support.

Although the percentage for these courses are quite low, it is very relevant for students to pursue and get themselves into the health and welfare industry. 

7. Services

Services may include training courses such as customer service and other industrial training. They are marked at 3.6% of the total students. These courses typically help students to improve their capabilities in providing professional and successful services. They will receive a certification upon graduation to become a fully certified service provider in the respective industries they’re interested in.

8. Agriculture and Veterinary

Agriculture and Veterinary reported at 2.1% of the total student enrollments. Agriculture is becoming one of the largest industries in the world. Now it has attracted many Malaysia students to pursue their studies in Agriculture.

Veterinary Medicine is a course for animal lovers whose dream to treat them when they’re injured or got hurt. Only those with pure interests in the field of study of health and treatment for animals.

9. General Programmes

The general programme is a multidisciplinary programme that allows students to read and take courses according to their needs. This will allow students to choose courses from one of many fields of study, with the resulting programme being specialised or multi-disciplinary in nature. The programme offers a selection of courses from the humanities to sciences including arts, music and human resources.