Hello brothers, sisters.

I am an international student (Palestinian) willing to pursue my masters in Malaysia. specifically in University Malaya, I guess it's the premier university in Malaysia and I can't afford private universities and they are not that good.
Anyway, I am intending to do master in economics, I have some questions that I hope you guys can help me with.
1. how's the course in UM?
2. Is it a super difficult course?
3. Facilities, lecturers, and students Quality?
4. Any other alternatives to UM? like IIUM or UPM that might be better in economics?
5. Are my chances of getting accepted to UM or similar universities slim? ( I have BSc Banking and finance with a CGPA of 3.9, IELTS 7.0)
6. Average living costs in Kuala Lumpur in areas around UM ( all I need is a peaceful single room with an AC in it for accommodation, no partying, I guess I will cook my own food.I am planning around 500usd a month for all living costs)
7. Any prospects of me finding a decent job in Malaysia with a UM degree? (I basically have no country to live in tbh).

That's all I guess. I don't know if I posted in the right forum or not, I apologize if not.

Hope you guys can help me
Thanks all

1. I've taken some courses in Master in Economics. It's quite good, many experience professors. You can select the topic and supervisor for your research paper from first semester.

2. It's okay if you're full time student. I know some people who drop out from this course because of the study workload + full time job. You need CGPA of 3.00 to pass. About 10% of students graduated with CGPA 3.7 and above each year.

3. Facilities are okay. Lecturers are good (as far as I know). Most of your classmate will be working students.

4. Not sure.

5. Very high chance.

6. Room with your requirement is around usd200 to usd250. Many cheap eateries. Groceries are cheap too. Your budget is okay to live decently since it's around starting salary of fresh graduate in Malaysia.

7. You can choose to apply to MNCs which are plenty in Kuala Lumpur.

Here's my experience and opinion as a graduate from UM in economics.

1. Pretty much the best Malaysia can offer.

2. Nope, unless you are relatively weak in abstract reasoning. It is a master course after all (and not phd) so it is still a study + academic paper course. You don't have to publish your research to graduate.

3. Again, pretty much the best Malaysia can offer. Facilities are top notch. All the resources you need to excel are there. Most lecturers are highly experienced in research and publication. Students quality is good i suppose. They produce some of the best economists in Malaysia. Do note that if you have a specific area of research, UM might not have the best expertise in that specific area but generally, they are the best.

4. IIUM's Kulliyyah of Economics and Management is probably one of the best in the world for Islamic economics but they are not to the level of UM for conventional economics. UPM and UKM are imo the second best for economics as these 2 universities some very experienced professors. UM is still better overall but it may depend on your area of research.

5. Pretty much 100%.

6. $500 usd is more than enough. My living costs was about $250 per month when I studied there.

7. Master in economics graduate is well versed and you should have no problem getting a decent job in Malaysia. Do note that some Malaysians may discriminate due to your religion and nationality but generally, you won't have any problem. However, if you plan to go into academia, you may need a phd.

From the hearsay of my class mates in UKM S.Ekon years ago, there is no such thing as a good or bad university among the established government universities (even UITM!).

What you gain from investing 2 years of your life to study in any decent university in Malaysia depends on what you are prepared to put in. For example, if the development economics course covers 8 topics, you can (1) learn all 8 topics conscientiously or (2) only study 4 of the topics that the lecturer told the class will be in the exam.

the lecturer taught all 8 topics but its your choice as to whether the B grade you got for the course means you actually gained knowledge of 4 or 8 topics in development economics.

Well, that's a good and detailed answer, thanks a lot mate!
I am going to ask you some more questions since you're an economics graduate from UM

academia is a serious consideration for me, especially if I get some sort of scholarship or discount. Is pursuing academia a good idea for an Arab Muslim to work in Malaysia?
Well, I am a Muslim and an Arab (If that was not obvious lol) let's just hope you guys are not THAT racist towards arabs (arabs are not perfect just saying lol). I have faced racism my whole life even in my country Palestine and all over the middle east due to not having a "country" to back me up, I can cope with some discrimination perfectly fine.
I know for sure IIUM has an excellent reputation in the Islamic Banking Department, especially in the Arab region. but I don't want to limit myself to Islamic banking or be branded as "Islamic" If I intent to immigrate in the future. Guess I'll just apply to UM.
And oh, do professors really switch to Malay during the lecture? I have seen people discussing that in some forums. if yes then I'll probably forget about masters in UM. this is a serious issue for me and I hope you know a thing about it.
Just out of curiosity, did you finish economics as masters or undergraduate level?

Thanks again

You're right tbh, but when I said better I meant like better in terms of reputation and overall. I seriously want to migrate to Malaysia, so I want to increase my chances of getting employed or at least noticed if I intend to complete a Ph.D. overseas. It may seem weird to you that I want to work in Malaysia, but you guys are living in a situation better than 95% of the Arab world including Dubai from my experience. I am planning to put all I got in the courses not just to pass or cover exam material. So with that being said, what are your thoughts on the best economics department in public universities?

Thanks for your advice

Ill do well inshallah as I will be a full-time student.
Do you have any idea about any alternative masters to study that are relevant to my BSc and demanded in the Malaysian economy?

It is perfectly fine for you to pursue an academia career in Malaysia. We have many foreign lecturers in public and private colleges and universities here.

As for racism in Malaysia, since Malaysia is a muslim majority country, the level of racism is not as bad as those east asia countries or western countries. Still, you may still encounter some discrimination here and there.

At postgraduate level, I have never encounter any professor using Malay during the lecture except for the National University of Malaysia (UKM) where some lectures are legally required to be lectured in Malay (most of the course have English and Malay options at UKM so you may choose the English course). At UM, 100% English most of the time. Some professors may not have excellent spoken English but since all of them are highly experienced in academic writing, you should have no problem communicating with them.

FYI I have a phd in Economics from UM (as well as my master) but currently I am working at a different public university.

Good luck and welcome to Malaysia.

You might want to consider Master in Applied Statistics which is in same faculty as Master in Economics. Since you aspire to be in academia, this program can greatly
help you to conduct quantitative research later during PhD. If you want to pursue the industry, the analytical side of this program can give you an edge for employment. You can still takes
some elective economic courses if you love to know more on economics.

if your objective for studying is to increase employment opportunity in malaysia, then i'd steer clear of pure economics and go for something more relevant to financial services. maybe islamic finance, applied mathematics or statistics.

iium might be better for anything islamic.

Applied statistics is a great option, but I thought it might be super hard for me because i only took super basic statistics in in undergraduate level. Uhmm i guess mean,mode,.. etc and the graphs. I took calculus and linear algebra. If that's enough to take a master in applied statistics it would definitely be better than economics for sure. But in general, the math level in my undergraduate degree were basic and related to finance and loans: future value, present value and such.
Well,i can try a semester or such then maybe transfer, we had this option back in my uni. Dunno if it's available in UM

I believe it is very doable by you considering your good grade. I had classmates from different background (accounting, engineering, finance) whom learnt basic statistics only and
they can manage this course well. IMO, you can just brush up your statistics & probability understanding using khanacademy course and you'll be fine to take this master.
I'm not sure you can change course in master level.

Oh, that's good to know. I thought the subject will be some very advanced mathematical stuff that people from maths or engineering background only can excel in. So you have taken applied statistics masters in UM? If yes, can you tell me if it's theory based or technical based? Do they use software like sas or tableau or such or is it a combination of both. In the middle east, applied statistics has nothing applied in it at all lol.

Anyway, applied statistics was my main consideration as a master and i am gald to know it's open for everyone, as i thought it's for STEM majors.

You guys can't take a semester for example in applied statistics, then if you think it doesn't suit you, you switch majors ?and start the next semester with master in economics. Once you finish your master in economics you get your masters degree but with another transcript saying that you completed 4 courses or such from the faculty of statistics. Basically it's major switching.

This post has been edited by sunjain65: Nov 5 2018, 06:53 PM

Yes I graduated from master in app. stats (Mappstat). It's very application-based course as the name suggest. There actually another master in statistics in UM that is very theoretical and they select only those with strong mathematical background. While Mappstat can be taken by those that have some experience in calculus/statistics.

We use softwares, mainly SPSS, R and Eview.
I heard that if you want to change master course, you need to quit from the course and apply back next semester (no simple major switching, I could be wrong). You can email UM for confirmation.

Oh alright, I have more than enough information now regarding both applied statistics and economics.
I'll contact UM regarding the switching majors.
Thanks a lot for your help, wish you all the best

Where'd u get ur banking and finance degree from? which university?

That's a pretty high GPA. UM's requirement is only 3.5 gpa. so its good news for u

I graduated from a public "government owned" institute specialised in banking and finance in the United Arab Emirates, called " Emirates institute for banking and financial studies". I don't know if degrees from "institutes" are accepted in Malaysia. Even though my degree is a BSc and the institute is established in 1983.

And i thought UM needs 3.0 to apply? Anyway I have 3.9 which is hopefully good enough.

This post has been edited by sunjain65: Nov 10 2018, 06:31 AM

Why do u say Malaysia has a better standard of living than most Arab countries? I thought the UAE is pretty modern already?

Hi Lyanae,

I’m currently considering to take either Master of Applied Statistics or Master of Data Science in UM. May I know whether u only use R when taking Mappstat? Any other sofetwares are being used such as SAS, Power BI?
Thanks 🙏

No during my time.. The program don't really emphasis on programming, more on using it for statistical analysis. If you want more programming oriented I recommend the data science program.