How to check a course is accredited (MQA and professional bodies)

Key facts

• The Malaysian Qualifications Register (MQR) lists only programmes with full accreditation from the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA). Programmes with provisional accreditation sit on a separate MQA portal.^[1][2]
• Full accreditation covers students who graduate within the dates on the MQR record. Graduate outside those dates and your qualification is not covered.^[1]
• Accreditation is tied to the location on the record. The same programme taught somewhere else is not accredited.^[3]
• PTPTN lends only for courses approved by the Ministry of Higher Education (KPT) and registered with PTPTN. JPA's B40 diploma award (DB40) needs full or provisional MQA accreditation.^[4][5]
• For engineering, medicine, pharmacy, nursing and accounting, a professional body decides whether you can register or practise, on top of MQA.^{[6][7][8][9][10][11]}

Accreditation is MQA's formal recognition that a certificate, diploma or degree programme meets its standards and fits the Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF), the national scale of qualification levels.^[12] It affects whether you can borrow from PTPTN, keep a scholarship, join the civil service, transfer credits and register in a profession.^[1]

The check is free and online. Do it before you pay any deposit, for every programme on your shortlist, public or private.

Four words that sound alike

How to check a programme on the MQR

1. Get the reference number. Ask the college for the programme's MQA reference number. MQR numbers look like A1234, AA1234, MQA/FA1234 or TVET/QF1462.^[3]
2. Search. Open the MQR search page(opens in a new tab) and type the reference number. If you do not have it, combine keywords: for a Diploma in Computer Science, type "Computer Science" as the name of qualification and pick "Diploma" as the type. You can also browse by institution: public universities, polytechnics, community colleges and private institutions each have a list.^[3][14]
3. Open the record and read it line by line. The fields that matter most are below.^[15]
4. No record? MQA gives four likely reasons: the programme has provisional accreditation but is not yet ready to apply for full accreditation; the institution never applied; the programme ran before 1997; or it failed full accreditation.^[3] Then search the Provisional Accreditation portal(opens in a new tab), where reference numbers start with P, MQA/PA, MQA/PSA or TVET/QP.^[2]
5. Save it. Each record has a printer-friendly version. MQA says it does not verify a programme's accreditation for you, and that the printed statement is enough for any related business.^[15]

A real example. Politeknik Kuching Sarawak's Diploma in Mechanical Engineering (MQA/FA13170) shows accreditation dates of 01/01/2025 to 31/12/2030, MQF level 4, "Board of Engineers Malaysia" as the professional body and "Diploma in Engineering" as its public-service equivalency. It runs for three years full-time, with a semester of industrial training.^[15] The polytechnic's list also shows an earlier record for the same programme, dated 01/01/2019 to 31/12/2024.^[16] One programme can have several records, one per period, so open the one that covers your graduation.

Reading the dates

MQA's register FAQ says the full accreditation date is the validity period, and that it is based on when students graduate. Accreditation covers the students who graduate within that period. If you graduate outside it, your qualification is not covered by MQA accreditation.^[1]

So work out when you would graduate, not when you would start. If a record ends before your expected graduation, ask the college whether a renewal is under way and get the answer in writing. Some older records show only a start date, such as "Starting 21/01/2013".^[16]

MQA reviews every accredited programme at least once in five years. If the institution has not kept up the quality, MQA can revoke the accreditation and the MQR records the date it ended.^[6]

Provisional or full: what it means for you

A new programme starts with provisional accreditation. KPT takes it into account when deciding whether to approve the programme.^[13] Full accreditation is usually assessed while the first group of students is in its final year,^[6] so if you join a brand-new programme, you may study most of it before full accreditation is decided.

• If full accreditation is refused, MQA's code says it informs the relevant authorities so they can act.^[6] MQA does not publish one rule for what then happens to students, so ask the college before you enrol.
• Credit transfer after a refusal can still be considered, MQA says, because the programme held provisional accreditation.^[13]
• Without full accreditation, MQA cannot give any quality assurance for the programme. You may also lose out wherever MQA accreditation is a condition: further study, credit transfer, loans and financial aid, or public and private sector jobs.^[1]
• If you already hold a qualification that is not accredited, a university can still admit you to further study if its senate agrees, but you cannot transfer credits.^[13][1]
• Some funders accept provisional status. JPA's DB40 award funds diplomas with full or provisional MQA recognition.^[5]

Two questions to ask a college running a new programme: when will you apply for full accreditation, and what happens to my group if it is not granted?

Why accreditation matters

For the money side, read PTPTN basics: borrowing, repaying and saving with SSPN, Scholarships and study loans after SPM and What each route after SPM really costs.

Regulated careers: check the professional body too

Under the MQA Act 2007 (Act 679), professional programmes are accredited through joint technical committees with the professional bodies, for example the Malaysian Medical Council for medicine and the Board of Engineers Malaysia for engineering. These bodies set their own standards.^[6] For professional programmes, the professional body also decides how long the accreditation lasts.^[13]

Engineering

• The Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) accredits engineering degrees through the Engineering Accreditation Council (EAC), which brings together BEM, the Institution of Engineers Malaysia, MQA and JPA. The aim is to make sure graduates meet the minimum academic requirements to register as a graduate engineer.^[21]
• To register as a Graduate Engineer, the recognised academic qualifications include a degree accredited by the EAC or by a Washington Accord signatory, the international agreement on engineering degrees.^[7]
• Engineering technology degrees, engineering diplomas and engineering technology diplomas offered in Malaysia are accredited by the Engineering Technology Accreditation Council (ETAC), which BEM says is the only recognised body for them.^[21]
• BEM can review its list at any time without notice and advises intending students to check with BEM before they start.^[21] Its accredited programme list is linked from the BEM accreditation page(opens in a new tab). The EAC site blocked our automated check, so open it in your own browser.

Medicine

• To register as a doctor in Malaysia, your degree must come from a recognised institution listed in the Second Schedule of the Medical Act 1971.^[8] The Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) says that if your qualification does not meet its registration criteria, starting with the Second Schedule, it will not register you even after your documents are verified.^[8]
• The MMC list(opens in a new tab) names each university, the exact qualification and the date it was recognised. Campus matters: Universiti Sains Malaysia's Doctor of Medicine at Kubang Kerian and its USM-KLE programme in Belgaum, India have separate entries.^[22]
• MMC also publishes minimum entry requirements for medical programmes, with a version enforced from 1 January 2027.^[8] Read it before you choose a foundation or pre-university route for medicine.

Pharmacy

• The Pharmacy Board Malaysia (PBM) lets a university with provisional MQA accreditation run a pharmacy degree and take students. PBM then monitors the programme every year until the students graduate and do their provisional training, to decide whether to recognise it. Once PBM recognises it, graduates are entitled to register under the Registration of Pharmacists Act 1951.^[9]
• So ask: does PBM already recognise this exact degree, and since when? PBM's recognised degree list(opens in a new tab) shows recognition dates for many programmes.^[23]

Nursing

• Nurses are registered by the Lembaga Jururawat Malaysia (LJM, the Nursing Board), whose pages sit on the Ministry of Health's Nursing Division portal. Nursing colleges register their students for the LJM examination, which is a condition of entry to the general part of LJM's register. LJM also says nurses trained abroad can work in Malaysia only once registered with it.^[10]
• LJM publishes standard criteria for accrediting nursing programmes (2025 edition).^[24] We could not find a public list of LJM-approved programmes on its pages. Ask the college whether LJM has approved its programme and whether its students sit the LJM examination, then confirm with LJM on 03-8883 3553 or [email protected].^[10]

Accounting

• Under the Accountants Act 1967, no one may practise or call themselves an accountant unless they are a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA).^[11]
• The main routes to join as a Chartered Accountant are: a degree listed in Part I of the Act's First Schedule plus at least three years of practical experience; membership of a recognised body listed in Part II, such as MICPA, ACCA or CIMA; or MIA's own Qualifying Examination plus three years of experience.^[25][26][27]
• Part I names specific degrees, and some count only from a stated intake. For example, the accounting degrees at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UPSI and UNIMAS count from the March 2023 session, and UniKL's from March 2025.^[27] Check the First Schedule(opens in a new tab) for your exact degree.

Foundation and diploma: will the next university accept it?

• For the 2026/27 public university intake, UPU (the central admissions unit for public universities) accepted private foundation ("Foundation IPTS"), private institution diplomas, public university diplomas and polytechnic or community college diplomas as qualifications for degree applications.^[28] Each degree still has its own general and special entry requirements, listed in e-Panduan.^[28]
• A public Asasi marked as a feeder (perintis) programme commits you to finishing your degree at the same university.^[28]
• Moving on from a private foundation is not always automatic, even within the same group. Taylor's College, for example, says its Foundation in Science students must meet each Taylor's University degree's entry requirements.^[29] Ask any other university you are considering, in writing, whether it accepts that foundation for your course.
• Foundation programmes are entry qualifications only. MQA registers Asasi and A-Level programmes without an MQF level,^[1] and foundations do not get a public-service equivalency statement.^[18]
• If you hold an SKM or SVM skills certificate, you cannot apply through UPU directly: you first complete a diploma at a community college, polytechnic or another institution with an MQA-recognised diploma.^[28] TVET in depth: who runs what, the SKM ladder and the road to a degree explains the split between JPK (skills) and MQA accreditation.

For the routes themselves, see Asasi and foundation: one-year bridges to a degree, Diplomas: polytechnic, UiTM, community college or private and A-Level, AUSMAT, IB and CIMP: when an international pre-U is worth it.

Red flags MQA and KPT warn about

• Claims of accreditation you cannot find. MQA says some institutions use misleading adverts and promises that are not kept after students enrol. Falsely claiming MQA accreditation is an offence under the MQA Act, and you can report it to [email protected].^[13]
• Promoting or enrolling before accreditation. KPT says every private institution programme must be accredited by MQA before it can be promoted. Under Act 679, enrolling students in a programme without MQA accreditation carries a fine of up to RM100,000, up to two years in jail, or both; advertising one carries up to RM200,000, up to three years, or both (KPT, February 2023).^[30]
• A different campus, an offshore class or a partner's award. Programmes run at locations not named in the MQR are not accredited. Offshore deliveries are not listed unless stated, and for dual awards MQA lists only the Malaysian award, not the partner's.^[3]
• Courses run without KPT approval. In 2018 KPT prosecuted a college in Melaka for running courses without the approval of the Registrar General of private higher education institutions; it was fined RM35,000.^[31]
• Certificates for sale. In August 2024 KPT warned about syndicates selling academic certificates under the names of real institutions, and urged the public to be careful.^[32]
• An unregistered institution. KPT's Higher Education Department publishes the list of registered private institutions and a list of private institutions whose approval to operate has been cancelled, on its register page(opens in a new tab).^[33]
• A degree from overseas. MQA's accreditation covers programmes in Malaysia, so check the quality body of the country concerned. MQA notes that with an unaccredited qualification you still hold the certificate, but its quality cannot be confirmed.^[13]

What this means for you

• Check the programme, not the brand. Accreditation belongs to one programme, at one campus, for one period. A well-known name does not cover every course or every branch.
• A new programme carries more risk. It may be fine, but full accreditation is decided late, often in your final year. If you choose one, get the college's plan in writing.
• For a regulated career, check two lists. MQA's register tells you the programme meets national standards. Only the professional body's list tells you that you can register as an engineer, doctor, pharmacist, nurse or accountant.
• The next university decides. A foundation or diploma that is accredited can still be turned down for a particular degree, and credit transfer is never automatic.
• Keep the evidence. Save the printed MQR record and any written answers from the college. You may need them for loans, scholarships and job applications.

Your next step

1. For each programme on your shortlist, ask the college for its MQA reference number and look it up on the MQR(opens in a new tab). Print the record and check the campus, the dates against your graduation year, and the Professional Body field.
2. Aiming for engineering, medicine, pharmacy, nursing or accounting? Before you accept an offer, find your exact degree and campus on that body's list (links in the section above), or email the body and ask.