KUALA LUMPUR – A total of 131 Mara-sponsored students originally bound for the United States will now pursue their studies in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
This comes after the agency scrapped US placements in response to tightening American visa policies under President Donald Trump.
Mara chairman Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki confirmed the redirection plan this week, saying that all students had secured conditional offers from top 100 global universities, according to a media report.
The 131 students had initially been selected for studies in the US but will now enrol in institutions such as Imperial College London, University of Toronto, the University of Melbourne, and others across four countries.
The breakdown includes 78 students to the UK, 28 to Canada, 22 to Australia and three to New Zealand.
This comes in the wake of a series of escalating policy changes by the Trump administration that disrupted international student admissions, including a freeze on visa appointments and expanded social media surveillance.
The US shift began in late May when Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a directive to suspend new student and exchange visitor visa appointments, citing plans to intensify screening by reviewing applicants’ social media presence for signs of hostility towards the US.
The uncertainty prompted Mara to act swiftly. On June 1, Asyraf announced a full stop to US placements for 2024, saying students in pre-university programmes would instead be redirected to countries offering similar academic strength with greater stability—such as the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and China.
“With the recent policy changes introduced by President Trump, we are taking a serious look at the potential impact on our students there, including rising living costs and academic disruptions,” Asyraf said on June 1 during a visit to the UK.
By June 19, the US State Department said it would resume appointments, but with significantly stricter vetting.
Applicants are now expected to make their social media profiles public or risk being flagged, under new rules impacting F (academic), M (vocational) and J (exchange) visas.
Mara is also assisting its 266 existing students in the US with options to transfer to other destinations, particularly in fields like computer science, engineering, and high-tech disciplines including robotics and AI.
In 2023 to 2024, the US hosted over 1.13 million international students, with Asia accounting for more than 70%.
While Malaysia was not listed among the top source countries,1,295 Malaysian students were reported to be enrolled in US institutions during the 2022/2023 academic year. – July 6, 2025