Directly translates to “foundation”, Asasi is the foundation program provided by public university in Malaysia to those who have set their sights to study at the particular university.

🎯 Minimum Requirements

Students are selected based on a meritocratic system, which is calculated by taking into account 90% of your academic results and 10% of your co-curricular performance.

The minimum requirements for different programs vary in terms of the average merit marks. For example, the average merit score to enter ASASIpintar, UKM is over 94%, but for less competitive asasi would have a much lower average merit score.

Some Asasi programs are only opened to bumiputera students:

• List of Asasi program opened to bumiputera only

• List of Asasi program that is opened to all

Interview / entrance exam is required for some Asasi programs:

• Asasi TESL UiTM
• Asasi Perubatan UPNM
• ASASIpintar

💡 Types of Asasi

Asasi Terbuka

• Recognized by other universities and can proceed to any degree program
• List of Asasi Terbuka

Asasi Tertutup

• not recognized by other universities and can only pursue a particular degree program under the same university
• Examples of Asasi Tertutup

⚖️ Structure

Just like studying in a public university, students are graded with Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA), with CGPA 4.00 as the highest possible result.

<aside> ‼️ Different institutions have different grading systems in terms of the weightage of various aspects

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💰 Fees

<aside> ‼️ Costs differ between institution. This is just a generalization.

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✅ Pros

• Have a higher chance to land a spot at your desired major in the particular public university
• Syllabus is focused to fit a particular degree
• Not fully exam-based

❎ Cons

• Not suitable for overseas studies
• Can be inflexible (for closed Asasi) because it may not be recognised by other public universities