Nearly six in 10 public university students chose STEM between 2023 and 2026, Dewan Rakyat told

KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — Public universities in Malaysia continue to build a strong pipeline of STEM talent, with more than half of students enrolling in science and technology-related programmes between 2023 and March 2026, according to data from the Ministry of Higher Education’s MyMOHES system.

Deputy Higher Education Minister Adam Adli Abd Halim said a total of 556,556 students enrolled in diploma and bachelor’s degree programmes at public higher education institutions during the period. Of these, 326,419 (58.6 per cent) enrolled in STEM programmes, while 230,137 (41.4 per cent) pursued non-STEM fields.

“These figures show that our public universities continue to place a strong emphasis on developing talent in STEM fields, in line with the country’s needs and future industry demand, particularly in high-technology sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, automation, digitalisation and green technology,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was responding to a question from Kubang Pasu MP Datuk Ku Abd Rahman Ku Ismail, who asked about the ratio of students entering public and private higher education institutions in STEM fields, as well as the targeted number of engineers across various disciplines under the National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (2021–2030) to meet demand from the AI and semiconductor industries.

Adam Adli said Malaysia’s human capital strategy under the National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (DSTIN) 2021–2030 does not focus solely on producing a fixed number of engineers in specific disciplines.

Instead, he said, it adopts a holistic approach to developing the ecosystem of researchers, scientists, engineers and technologists (RSET).

He added that the policy aims to strengthen Malaysia’s high-technology workforce in line with industrial growth targets.

“To support the growth of high-technology industries, DSTIN targets a ratio of 200 RSETs for every 10,000 workers by 2030.

“Based on a projected national workforce of 17.06 million people, Malaysia will require around 341,200 RSET professionals by 2030,” he added.

Adam Adli said the ministry will continue strengthening the higher education ecosystem to ensure academic offerings remain aligned with national economic needs.

On cross-ministerial collaboration to develop talent in AI, semiconductors and related fields, Adam Adli said efforts are under way to strengthen both skills development and institutional coordination.

“We ensure that students in STEM fields are equipped with strong skills and competencies, particularly in AI. For example, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has established a Faculty of AI, which is among the first such faculties developed in the country,” he said.

He added that collaboration across agencies is also being strengthened through national initiatives, noting that the establishment of the Malaysia AI Consortium is one of the steps taken to ensure AI development is not limited merely to academic programme offerings.

“What is more important is ensuring that graduates produced truly meet industry requirements.

“We must be careful not to become overly focused on creating new fields or introducing new skills in isolation, only to end up producing graduates who do not align with industry needs,” he said.