Malaysia International Scholarship (MIS) 2027/28: Tuition, RM 1,500 a Month and a Shortlist Interview
MIS is the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education’s postgraduate award for international students. It pays your tuition and a monthly allowance for a full-time Master’s or PhD. The 2026/2027 call is closed; the 2027/2028 call has not been announced yet.
ScholarshipUnion Editorial
4 min read
Updated Oct 6, 2026
The Malaysia International Scholarship (MIS) is run by the Scholarship Division of Malaysia’s Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE). The official portal describes it as a government initiative to attract top talent from around the world to postgraduate study in Malaysia. Everything in this guide comes from the MIS 2026 guidelines (PDF) and the MIS portal, checked on 6 October 2026.
Where the cycle stands today
The portal says the application for the 2026/2027 academic year is closed. An archived copy of the same page shows the call ran from 4 March 2026 to 3 April 2026. Shortlisted applicants could check whether they had been invited to an interview between 7 and 22 July 2026.
MOHE has not published anything about 2027/2028. The window moved a lot between the last two cycles: it ran from 10 to 30 June in 2025 and from early March to early April in 2026. So the safest plan is to have your documents ready by early 2027. Our timeline page sets out the estimate and the reasons for it.
Any 2027/2028 date in this guide is our estimate, based on the 2025 and 2026 cycles. Watch the official portal. MOHE posts the window there first.
What MIS pays
Benefits →The 2026 guidelines list just two benefits:
Paid for the whole sponsorship period. MOHE pays the university directly once the university sends MOHE an invoice.
RM 1,500 a month. It is paid every four months (RM 6,000 a time), once you send MOHE your progress report.
The guidelines do not mention flights, medical insurance, visa fees or family support. Student-pass costs and the compulsory medical insurance are your own to budget for, as the benefits page explains. You also may not take paid work during the award without written approval from your host university.
Who MIS is for
MIS is for citizens of the recipient countries on the 2026 list: all ASEAN countries except Malaysia, every Commonwealth country, and 39 other named countries and territories, from Afghanistan to Yemen. There are three ways in:
- You are a graduate who wants to start a full-time Master’s or PhD in Malaysia.
- You are already studying full-time for a postgraduate degree at one of the 24 supported institutions and have at least two semesters left.
- Either way, you meet the age, grade and English rules: at most 40 for a Master’s or 45 for a PhD, a CGPA of 3.00 or Second Class Upper, and IELTS 6.0, TOEFL PBT 550 or an English-medium letter.
If you are applying for a Master’s by research or a PhD, you also need a research proposal of at least 1,000 words. The guidelines say topics related to Malaysia are preferred.
How selection works
You apply through the MIS online application system and upload every document as a PDF. MOHE then shortlists applicants and posts the interview list on the portal. MOHE judges applicants on three criteria:
- Outstanding academic and co-curricular achievement.
- The quality of the research proposal, its potential to advance technology and human well-being, and a preference for Malaysia-related topics.
- Excellent spoken and written English, including reading.
MOHE does not publish how many awards it makes or what share of applicants succeed, so we do not quote a success rate.
MIS, CSFP and MTCP are three different schemes
The MOHE portal also hosts the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan (CSFP), a government-to-government award for students nominated by their own country. The Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP) scholarship is now run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at mtcp.kln.gov.my. The MTCP FAQ says you may apply for both MTCP and MIS. See Alternatives.
Where to go next
Seven yes/no questions based on the 2026 rules.
ASEAN, the Commonwealth and the 39 named countries.
20 public and 4 private institutions, plus the nine priority areas.
Seven documents, the PDF rules and a tickable checklist.
How to plan the 1,000-word proposal around the selection criteria.
Start on the official site
This is an independent guide. Treat the MIS portal and the current guidelines PDF as the source of truth. For questions, the guidelines give the MOHE Scholarship Division in Putrajaya: international@mohe.gov.my, +603-8870 6346 or +603-8870 6375, 9.00 am to 4.30 pm Malaysia time, Monday to Friday.