New government agency to monitor foreign students

The Higher Education Ministry will set up an agency to ensure that foreign students coming to the country are genuine. The agency called the Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS) will handle and streamline the intake of foreign students.

The government hopes this move will reduce the possibility of students working illegally or engaging in crime.

EMGS is registered as a company but owned by the government and is expected to be operational by year-end. With EMGS, visas will be issued to foreign students only after they have received an offer from local institutions of higher learning approved by the agency. All foreign students approved by EMGS would receive a student card and they are required to get insurance in case they fall sick.

First-year foreign students must now sit a paper called Communication in Bahasa Melayu ao that they can communicate in Bahasa Melayu. The ministry also plans to impose a new ruling for private institutions to set up a trust fund for students in case the institutions collapsed and students were left in a quandary. This expected to happen by year-end.