Sarawak has three public university campuses: UNIMAS in Kota Samarahan, UiTM Sarawak (Samarahan, Samarahan 2 and Mukah) and UPM Sarawak in Bintulu. Malaysians apply to all three through one central portal, UPUOnline, and foreigners apply to the university directly. UiTM is closed to non-Bumiputera Malaysians and, according to its Vice-Chancellor in August 2026, has taken no international undergraduates for the past two years. Only UNIMAS is a full university; the other two are branches of Peninsular universities, and the polytechnics sometimes listed beside them are not universities at all.
I did not go through UPU myself and have no children at any of these campuses, so what follows is assembled from UPU’s own FAQ, each university’s admission pages and what students and parents describe. Whether any of the three is open to you depends on your citizenship and, for UiTM, on whether you are Bumiputera.
Sarawak’s Public Universities at a Glance
Sarawak’s three public campuses differ less in subject than in who may apply, so the table leads with that. Private campuses such as Swinburne Sarawak are left out; what the private options in Kuching teach and charge sits in the wider overview of universities in Kuching.
| University | Where | Who can apply | Main strengths | Malaysian fee signal | International fee | Hostel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNIMAS | Kota Samarahan, 30 km from Kuching | Malaysians via UPU; foreigners direct | Computing, business, engineering, sciences, medicine | About RM900 to RM1,000 a semester | About RM37,000 to RM86,000 a programme | On-campus kolej |
| UiTM Sarawak | Samarahan, Samarahan 2, Mukah | Bumiputera Malaysians via UPU only | Business, accountancy, food technology | Lowest of the three, a few hundred to about RM1,000 a semester | Closed | On-campus kolej, short of demand |
| UPM Sarawak | Bintulu, 10 km from town | Malaysians via UPU; foreigners via UPM Serdang | Agriculture, forestry, aquaculture | Follows UPM’s fee schedule | No Bintulu figure published | Sri Rajang college, 1,770 places |
| Not universities | ||||||
| Politeknik Kuching Sarawak | KM 22, Jalan Matang | Malaysians via UPU | Engineering, IT, accountancy, business diplomas | Diploma fees | Not applicable | Ask the polytechnic |
The Universities
Sarawak’s public universities run from one full university to two branch campuses, and a non-Bumiputera Sarawakian can use only the first.
UNIMAS, Kota Samarahan
UNIMAS is the state’s own public university, incorporated in 1992 as Malaysia’s eighth, with its main campus in Kota Samarahan. It is the only one of the three that foreigners can apply to directly (UPM routes them through Serdang and UiTM is closed to them), while Malaysians reach it through UPU like the others. It ranked joint 197th in Asia in QS’s 2026 Asia rankings. Its ten faculties run from computing and cognitive sciences to engineering and medicine, on a campus students describe as walkable, laid out around a lake and hot enough to need an umbrella. Faculty-by-faculty detail on the UNIMAS campus sits in its own guide.
The limit is the subject list. UNIMAS does not teach law or pharmacy, so a Sarawakian who wants either has to leave the state. Google Maps lists the main office as open Monday to Thursday 8am to 4pm and Friday 8am to 12pm and 2pm to 4pm (checked October 2026), phone 082-581 000.
UiTM Cawangan Sarawak: Samarahan, Samarahan 2 and Mukah
UiTM Sarawak is the branch of Universiti Teknologi MARA, with Samarahan on Jalan Meranek, Samarahan 2 (opened in 2013 to take the overflow) and Mukah (operating since 2002). Across the three it runs over 70 programmes, mostly diplomas and degrees in business, accountancy, administrative science and food technology, with aquaculture and planting industry diplomas at Mukah. UiTM’s founding Act restricts the undergraduate intake to Bumiputera Malaysians, which includes natives of Sarawak but not Sarawakian Chinese or Indian applicants. Foreigners are shut out as well: on 20 August 2026 the Vice-Chancellor said UiTM has stopped admitting international undergraduates for the past two years, to prioritise B40 Bumiputera, Orang Asli and Sabah and Sarawak students (Bernama).
For most readers of this page, UiTM is information rather than an option. UiTM hostel places fall short of demand, and students who rent in Kota Samarahan instead report money trouble. Google Maps lists Samarahan as open 7am to 7pm daily and Samarahan 2 as open 8am to 5pm on weekdays (checked October 2026).
UPM Sarawak, Bintulu
UPM Sarawak is the Bintulu campus of Universiti Putra Malaysia, renamed from UPM Kampus Bintulu on 30 June 2025. It stands on a 714-hectare rural site about 10 km from Bintulu town and teaches through two faculties: Agricultural Science and Forestry, and Humanities, Management and Science. The line-up is nine diplomas, five bachelor’s degrees and 51 postgraduate research fields, including Sarawak’s first master’s in renewable energy, launched in December 2024. It takes Malaysians through UPU, and international applicants go through UPM’s central admission in Serdang.
Location is the downside. Bintulu is an industrial town about 600 km from Kuching, the degree list is agriculture and forestry, and the two complaints that recur among students are patchy Wi-Fi and little to do off campus. Housing is the one thing that is less of a worry: the Sri Rajang college houses up to 1,770 students on site. The main office is listed Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm (checked October 2026).
Politeknik Kuching Sarawak and the Other Polytechnics
Politeknik Kuching Sarawak, at KM 22 Jalan Matang, is a diploma institution with eight departments, from civil and petrochemical engineering to ICT and commerce. It takes SPM leavers through the same UPU portal, and an Asasi TVET foundation started there in 2025/2026 with 33 students. Former students praise the hands-on workshop teaching and call the facilities modest. The state’s other polytechnic-level options are in Mukah and Betong, with a community college in Sarikei.
How Malaysians Get In: UPU and the Four Routes
Every Malaysian application to a public university goes through UPUOnline. It is the Ministry of Higher Education’s single portal for 20 public universities (UNIMAS, UiTM and UPM among them), 36 polytechnics, 106 community colleges and two MARA institutions. You do not apply to UNIMAS, then. You rank up to 12 programme choices, and the system matches you to one programme by merit, which students describe as 90% academic result and 10% co-curriculum score.
The steps run in order. Check each programme’s entry rules first in e-Panduan, buy a PIN at BSN for RM10.60, register at the UPUOnline login, pick your category, fill in personal, family and academic details, rank your choices, then save and print the slip. You get one offer. Students agree the order of your choices matters: programmes with interviews or tests only call you if they sit in your first four choices, and a few lower-demand programmes at the bottom stop you ending with nothing.
Four routes lead in, and each has its own category:
- SPM leavers apply for certificate, foundation (asasi), diploma and some degree programmes. The 2026/2027 window ran from 29 January to 12 April 2026. An asasi is a university’s own foundation year and usually leads into that university.
- STPM holders apply for bachelor’s degrees after about 18 months over three semesters in a government school, a qualification accepted internationally. Phase 1 ran from 29 January to 23 March 2026 and Phase 2 from 13 April to 15 May, but only for programmes without interviews or tests. STPM holders say they rank behind matriculation and asasi students for the most sought-after programmes, so a 4.0 does not guarantee a first choice.
- Matriculation is a one-year ministry programme, and Sarawak’s college is at Demak Laut in Kuching. It is recognised mainly inside Malaysia.
- Diploma holders, from a polytechnic or a university, enter a degree in year one or two through a separate UPU circular.
UNIMAS has a reputation among non-Bumiputera forum posters as one of the easier public places to land an offer with an average result, which makes it the usual backup choice. Dates for 2027/2028 should appear on upu.mohe.gov.my around January.
How Foreigners Get In: Direct Application
Foreigners do not use UPU. At UNIMAS, you apply online through the International Affairs Division by 31 July for the September intake or by 31 December for the February intake, and only a limited number of programmes start in February. Faculties need at least two weeks to decide. Entry needs A-Levels with at least 240 UCAS points, a recognised diploma or foundation, or an HSC-type certificate with at least a C in three subjects. English can be shown with IELTS 4.5 (several faculties ask for 5.5), TOEFL iBT 33, MUET Band 3, PTE 43 or UNIMAS’s own Intensive English Language Programme.
The offer letter triggers the Student Pass, which goes through EMGS. Agency write-ups quote about RM1,060 for an undergraduate pass and up to about RM1,730 with tax, and four to eight weeks of processing. Health insurance adds RM575 a year. Anyone bringing a spouse will need to learn how a dependent pass is applied for separately.
UiTM is shut to international undergraduates, as above. UPM Sarawak takes them through UPM Serdang’s central admission, with no Bintulu-specific route. UNIMAS is the realistic option.
What Does a Public University in Sarawak Cost?
Malaysian tuition is subsidised and low, while international tuition is a programme total in the tens of thousands of ringgit, not the cheap public fee some readers expect.
For Malaysians, UNIMAS publishes no per-semester fee schedule, so student figures are the best guide: roughly RM900 to RM1,000 a semester, with PTPTN loans for those who need them. Students on campus quote RM700 to RM1,000 a month all in, well under the monthly budget a working single person needs in the city’s cost of living.
For international students, UNIMAS’s 2023/2024 prospectus gives per-programme totals of about RM37,600 for most science and computing degrees, RM50,000 for arts and social sciences, RM55,000 for economics, business and psychology, and RM47,000 to RM80,000 for engineering, with accountancy at about RM86,240 in the 2025/2026 edition. That is roughly RM9,000 to RM21,000 a year of tuition. Each semester adds RM200 for welfare, RM600 for medical, RM400 for lab or equipment and RM400 for service, and a hostel “normal room” is RM15 a day. These are the latest public figures (checked 1 November 2026), so ask the International Affairs Division for the current table before you commit.
Sarawak’s 2026 free-tuition scheme does not reach any of these campuses. It pays full tuition on 64 approved courses at UTS, Curtin Malaysia, Swinburne Sarawak and i-CATS, and the state has said it has no plans to extend it to federal universities such as UNIMAS and UiTM (Borneo Post, 1 December 2025). For a Sarawakian priced out of a private campus, which private courses the scheme covers is the question to ask next.
Hostels, Transport and the Samarahan Problem
Hostels and transport at Kota Samarahan come down to two questions: whether you win a kolej place after first year, and whether anyone in your group has a vehicle.
First-years at UNIMAS are placed in a kolej by default. From second year, places go to students with enough college activity merits, so many rent outside, and students call the allocation system opaque. Those who miss out take a room at Kolej Dahlia, which is run commercially, or rent a room in Desa Ilmu or the Kwang Tai shophouses for around RM500 to RM600. The university’s residence form lists Dahlia, Allamanda and Sebayor at RM7 to RM35 a day, roughly RM210 to RM1,050 a month depending on the room, before 8 percent SST. Dahlia’s Google Maps reviews are almost all one-star and repeat the same two complaints: lost room application forms and rooms allocated differently from what was booked.
Inside UNIMAS, a campus bus covers the distances, and the longest walk, from the farthest college to the farthest faculty, is 15 to 20 minutes. Campus cafes charge about RM5 a meal. Outside the gate, Kuching is 30 to 40 minutes by car, the roundabouts between Samarahan and the city jam at peak hours, and how the K10 and other buses run in practice matters, because a student column describes 40 to 60 minute waits after a missed bus. Most students split Grab fares or borrow a friend’s car. Anyone weighing a Samarahan room against a flat in town can compare rent ranges neighbourhood by neighbourhood.
Is a Sarawak Public University the Right Call?
A Sarawakian Bumiputera has all three campuses, UiTM’s low fees and UNIMAS’s wider subject list, and competes on merit like everyone else. A non-Bumiputera Malaysian has UNIMAS, UPM Bintulu’s agriculture programmes and the polytechnics inside the state, and that is all. For an international applicant, UNIMAS is the only real option, and the price is a programme total: what a Swinburne Sarawak degree costs and offers is the comparison to run before choosing. A non-Bumiputera Sarawakian who wants tuition paid should look at the free-tuition route at a private campus first.
The choice for a non-Bumiputera Sarawakian is narrow. UNIMAS teaches neither law nor pharmacy, the free-tuition scheme stops at private campuses, and UiTM is closed. Such a student can list 12 UPU choices, yet only one full public university in the state, UNIMAS, is open to them, plus Bintulu’s agriculture programmes and the polytechnics.