Private Higher Education Institutions (Private HEIs) play an important role in the development of higher education in the country in terms of provision of opportunities for higher education, savings on foreign exchange and contribution in establishing Malaysia as a hub of excellence in international higher education.

1980
Since the 1980s, there has been a rapid development of Private HEIs. Private HEIs offers courses of study at the certificate and diploma levels in collaboration with foreign universities and professional bodies from United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

1990
In the 1990s, private higher education further developed where more Private HEIs certificate, diploma and degree level study courses in various fields such as business, engineering, communication, computer, and information technology through collaborative programmes with UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and France. These collaborative programmes are conducted through twinning, credit transfer, Advance standing, and professional programmes. In the currently running 1+2, 2+2 or 3+1 twinning programmes students are required to continue the second stages of the final or last two years of their study at the university abroad.

The world economic recession in 1997 has had a significant impact on the development of local private higher education. With a massive reduction in the number of government sponsored students for overseas study, non-university level private higher education institutions are allowed to manage their programmes in collaboration with universities abroad such as UK, Australia, New Zealand and France through the 3+0 programme where students will complete their overall study at a local Private HEIs.

2000
Up till the end of 2000, 32 Private HEIs were given permission to manage the 3+0 programmes. The management of this programme provided Private HEIs with useful experiences in handling study programmes at the bachelor level. At the same time local Private HEIs has successfully attracted more international students to study in Malaysia.

The Private HEI’s vast experience in providing overseas collaborative programmes brought about the establishment of collaborative programmes between Public HEIs and Private HEIs through the franchises. The collaboration between Private and Public HEIs has raised the quality of higher education provided by Private HEIs. Hence, Private HEIs obtained experience in the quality assurance of the study programmes offered.

Private HEIs in Malaysia is categorized into two, namely, Private HEIs of University status and Private HEIs of Non-University status. For the Private HEIs with University status, there are three categories, which are, Private HEIs of University status, University College, Foreign University Branch campus and for Private HEIs of non-university status, there is the Private HEIs of College status.

Up until 31 December 2009, there are 20 Private HEIs of University and University College respectively, 5 Foreign University Branch campuses and 393 colleges.

In line with the increase in the number of Private HEIs, collaborations between local Private HEIs has also increased in number with the increase in the number of foreign countries collaborating with local Private HEIs. Among the countries collaborating with local Private HEIs are UK, Australia, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, France, Egypt, Indonesia and India.

Now Private HEIs are not only complementing the private higher education, but is also the catalyst for the realization of Malaysia an international higher education hub of excellence.