The Malaysian Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City received 740 visa applications from Vietnamese students who sought to study in Malaysia in 2023, surging over 300 percent against the previous year, the diplomatic agency announced on Saturday.

Firdauz Othman, Malaysian Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, said Malaysia recorded considerable registrations by Vietnamese students, evidence that it is an emerging overseas study destination among the Vietnamese.

In the first five months of this year, the Malaysian Consulate General logged 225 visa applications from Vietnamese students.

Vietnam-Malaysia trade reached US$17.38 billion in 2023. Their economic ties will deepen with the cooperation in culture and education, Othman said.

Azriey Mazlan, an education consul at the Malaysian Consulate General, said Malaysia has universities in international university rankings with competitive studying and living costs compared with many other overseas study destinations.

The average tuition fee for an international university student in Malaysia is about $8,000 per year while the living cost totals some $5,000.

The respective figures are $17,000 and $8,000 in Singapore, and $26,000 and $17,000 in Australia.

According to Huynh Kim Toan, director of the Vietnam Sales & Engineering Institute, a Vietnamese educational organization, many international students have chosen Malaysia as a transit destination to enter other countries, such as the UK and Australia.

Monash University, Curtin University, and Newcastle University in Australia as well as the UK’s University of Southampton, University of Nottingham, and University of Reading have campuses in Malaysia.

Many overseas students choose to study at these campuses in Malaysia in one to two years before moving to the headquarters of these universities in Australia and the UK to save 30-50 percent of the costs, Toan added.

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