How Much Does It Cost To Be a Teacher in Malaysia?

3 min readNov 12, 2021

Melissa Tanya Gomes

In our previous articles, Edvolution Enterprise highlighted that education degree programs are offered by both government and private universities. In this article, we will explore the average cost one needs to allocate to be a teacher in a national school in Malaysia.

Public Universities

Individuals who wish to undertake an education degree program in a public university must first complete their STPM or Matrikulasi (pre-U) qualification. Once accepted, students may proceed to apply for the course of their choice via UPU (an online application portal for students to apply to public universities). The fee for STPM is less than RM500. One only needs to pay for the books and examination fee of RM120. Below is the fee for Matrikulasi:

On average, a four-year education program offered by the top four public universities (Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Universiti Malaya, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Putra Malaysia) range from RM7,420 to RM 18,760. Of the four universities, Universiti Putra Malaysia has the highest course fees at RM 18,760.

Table 1: Education Degree Course Fee by Public Universities

Private Universities

Besides government universities, private institutions such as University Tun Abdul Razak (UniRazak), Management and Science University (MSU) and Taylors University also offer education degree programs that allow candidates to teach in both local government and international schools.

On average, a four-year education program offered by the three private universities (UniRazak, MSU and Taylors university) ranges from RM40,000 to RM 80,000.

Table 2: Education Degree Course Fee by Private Universities

Teaching Diploma: Diploma Perguruan Lepasan Ijazah (DPLI)

If you are a non-education graduate but wish to teach in a local national school, you may undertake a teaching diploma. DPLI is a one-year programme open to all degree holders who do not have a teaching degree. At present, two institutions that are offering this course are University Malaya and Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM). Price ranges from RM3,000 to RM10,000 for three semesters.

Conclusion

Being enrolled in an educational degree program does not guarantee one to be a teacher in national schools as candidates would have to apply for a placement with MoE and undergo a selection process by Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Pendidikan (SPP).

We observe that different universities have different requirements for one to be a teacher. While this creates a wider opportunity for more individuals to teach, we also observe that there is a potential risk of diluting the quality of the teaching profession. Unlike Singapore and Finland, teacher selection is coordinated by one body i.e National Training Institute (NIE) and a network of universities (VAKAVA network).