The Malaysian Matriculation Programme is a one or two-year pre-university preparatory programme [1] offered by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia. Starting 2005, the selection process for the programme is done through a race-based quota system, where 90% of the places are reserved for bumiputeras students while the remaining 10% are open for non-bumiputeras.
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Since its inception in the 1980s, the matriculation programme was handled by respective local universities. In 1998, the Matriculation Division was established by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia. The first matriculation programme started in 1999.
Prior to 2006, only one-year programmes are being conducted. Since then, four different programmes are offered.[2] They are One Year Programme (PST, short for Program Satu Tahun in Malay), Two Year Programme (PDT, short for Program Dua Tahun in Malay), Technical Programme and Accounting Programme. Mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry and informatics science subjects are conducted in English.[3] Other compulsory subjects are English, Dynamics Skills (Kemahiran Dinamika), Islamic/Moral Study and Information Technology. Students are also required to take up a co-curricular activity of their choice (sports/games, societies/clubs or marching band) during the programme.
PST is a one year, two-semester programme. Students from science, technical and accounting background can register for this programme. Particularly, for students from science background, there are three different modules to choose from. The subjects offered in the three modules are[3]:
PDT is a two-year, four-semester programme. Only students from science stream are involved in this programme. The same three modules from PST will be used, but students will be taught the same syllabus in a longer two-year time. This programme is meant to cater for students with lower academic achievement. This programme is only open for Bumiputera students.
This is a one-year, two-semester programme. The four subjects taught in the accounting module are Mathematics, Accounting, Business Study and Economy.
First introduced in academic session 2009/2010, this one-year, four-semester programme is only available for students from technical secondary schools, or students from secondary schools with knowledge and background in engineering technology. Students registered for the technical modules will study four subjects - Mathematics, Chemical Engineering, Physical Engineering and Engineering Study.
They are a total of 17 [3] learning institutions in Malaysia that offer the Matriculation Programme. They include ten matriculation colleges located in various states of Malaysia, two MARA colleges, and three technical matriculation colleges, that are managed by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia. In addition, there are two local universities that offer similar programme in their respective Centre of Foundation Studies (Pusat Asasi in Malay).