Post-Secondary Education

Post-secondary education

Post-secondary education is broadly defined by the Education Act to mean education provided to pupils who have completed upper secondary education but excludes higher education from the term. Under the Education Act 1996, the Minister may provide post-secondary education in national secondary schools, colleges or any educational institution established and maintained by the Minister under the Act.

Post-secondary education in the form of Form 6 is offered in some secondary schools. Another type of post-secondary education offered in a number of government institutions is the one-year matriculation programme.

Private institutions offer a wide variety of such programmes from the ubiquitous ‘A’ levels to university foundation programmes that prepares students completing upper secondary education for entrance into a university or other tertiary institution.

The Minister may require a private educational institution, including expatriate and international schools providing post-secondary education to teach the following subjects in addition to the subjects in the post-secondary programme:

1. the national language, where the medium of instruction is other than the national language;
2. Malaysian studies;
3. the English language, where the medium of instruction is other than the English language;
4. studies relating to Islamic education for pupils professing the Islamic religion; and
5. moral education for pupils not professing the Islamic religion, based on the prescribed curriculum.