It is compulsory for all Malaysians to receive their 6 years of primary education, known as Year 1 to Year 6, and be enrolled into one of the following types of school at the age of 6: government primary schools, religious primary schools, private primary schools or special education primary schools. Students will be required to sit for a public exam at the end of Year 6, either UPSR, PSRA or UPKK, in order to progress to their secondary education.

After completing their secondary education, students have the option to continue their post-secondary education by either studying Form 6 or the matriculation programme - both prepare students for entry into public university but with different duration and a race-based quota for the matriculation programme where 90% of the students are bumiputras. Students studying Form 6 are prepared to sit for the STPM (Malaysian Higher School Certificate Examination) after 18 months, while students of the matriculation programme will sit for the Matrikulasi (Matriculation) after either 1 or 2 years.

Malaysia has many public universities and even more private universities to cater to a range of students who wish to further their studies whether in the undergraduate or postgraduate level. A typical Bachelor’s programme in Malaysia takes about 4-5 years to complete while postgraduate studies require about 1-3 years depending on the course and subject area. Many private universities in Malaysia also partner with overseas universities to provide 3+1 programmes that provide students with the exact same qualification as those who studied at the partner university and the flexibility of completing their programme at the partner university outside Malaysia.