Malaysia has a population of about 30 million people. Open and distance learning (ODL) is popular in Malaysia, with about half of working adults involved in it. Malaysia has hosted a number of important COL meetings and events, including the Eighth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning in November 2016.

School-age Population by Education Level1

3,162,457

 

2,847,346

Secondary

 

Tertiary

 

 

Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Secondary Education
for the school year ending 20191

87%

 

81%

Female

 

Male

 

 

Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Tertiary Education
for the school year ending 20191

49%

 

38%

Female

 

Male

 

 

Percentage of female teachers in 1

67.4%

 

50.2%

Secondary (2018)

 

Tertiary (2018)

 

 

1. UNESCO Institute for Statistics Data Centre, retrieved in June 2021

 

Literacy rate (2010)1

90.8%

 

95.4%

Adult (15+) literacy rate
Female

 

Adult (15+) literacy rate
Male

 

 

Economic Activity (2010)1

46%

 

64%

Adult (15+) economic activity
Female

 

Adult (15+) economic activity
Male

 

 

Political Decision Making (2014)1

13%

Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament

 

 

Life expectancy (2012)1

76

 

72

Female

 

Male

 

 

1. COL gender country profile April 2015 

 

20.4 134.5
Fixed-telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants1 Mobile-cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants1

 

 

  
8.6 116.7
Fixed-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants1 Mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants1

 

 

  
71.7 81.2
Households with a computer (%)1 Individuals using the internet (%)1

 

 

1. International Telecommunication Union (ITU) ICT Eye Country profile, retrieved in March 2020

Highlights

COL’s work in Malaysia is primarily in the areas of higher education and technology-enabled learning. Learners from Malaysia have also benefited from COL’s open online courses and other resources. 

Partners

Partnerships are fundamental to COL’s work. Strategic partnerships allow COL to broaden its reach and engage at global, regional and national levels, while implementation partners support COL’s work in communities and institutions across Commonwealth Member States. Partners include multilateral organisations, regional bodies, national governments, government agencies, foundations, civil society organisations, public and private (not-for-profit) institutions and the private sector. COL partnerships assist in improving and extending teaching and learning services to people in the developing Commonwealth.

COL's partners in Malaysia include: 

  • Ministry of Higher Education
  • Asia e University
  • HELP University
  • Open University Malaysia
  • Universiti Malaysia Sabah
  • Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia
  • Wawasan Open University