Al-Azhar Scholarship Route for Malaysian Students Studying in Egypt

What Al-Azhar University is

Al-Azhar University in Cairo is one of the oldest and most established centres of Sunni Islamic scholarship, teaching Islamic sciences and Arabic alongside modern faculties in medicine, engineering, science and business. Malaysian students have studied there for decades, mostly through government-backed scholarships or self-funded placements, making it one of the most established study destinations in Egypt for Malaysian Islamic studies students specifically.

Who actually funds Malaysian students at Al-Azhar

The main government-backed route into Al-Azhar runs through Malaysia's Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), which lists the University of Al-Azhar Scholarship on its international sponsorship page . This is separate from MARA, which many families assume handles every Malaysian scholarship abroad. For Al-Azhar specifically, MOHE and Al-Azhar University itself, not MARA, set the terms, the number of places and the annual deadline.

For the 2025-26 academic year, MOHE's listing showed 34 scholarships for Islamic studies and 4 for science and theoretical fields, with applications closing 13 June 2025. These numbers change every cycle, so check the current year's listing rather than relying on this figure for a future intake.

Al-Azhar scholarship snapshot (2025-26 cycle)

Where MARA actually fits in

MARA's role in Al-Azhar funding is smaller and less formal than many families expect. In February 2025, MARA's chairman proposed sponsoring Bumiputera students specifically for medicine, dentistry and pharmacy at Al-Azhar, and asked the university for a tuition discount for MARA-sponsored students in those fields, according to reporting from The Star . That proposal still needed Cabinet consideration and had no confirmed annual intake as of that report.

By July 2026, MARA was still handling Al-Azhar funding gaps case by case rather than through a standing scholarship line, stepping in for individual students facing shortfalls alongside options like domestic medical training, according to Malay Mail's coverage of one such case . If you plan to lean on MARA for Al-Azhar costs, treat it as a fallback to apply for individually, not a guaranteed scholarship track, and apply to MOHE's listed scholarship first.

A widening scope beyond Islamic studies

Al-Azhar's scholarships for Malaysian students used to concentrate on Islamic sciences and Arabic language. In November 2024, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that Al-Azhar University agreed to extend scholarships to Malaysian students in medicine, engineering and technology too, alongside a proposed memorandum of understanding between MOHE and Al-Azhar on Islamic Science cooperation. Watch MOHE's sponsorship page for how this expansion shows up in future intake numbers, since the details were still being worked out at announcement stage.

Getting in without a scholarship

Al-Azhar accepts self-funded Malaysian applicants outside the scholarship cycle too, through its foreign student admission process. You need a recognized secondary certificate equivalent to Al-Azhar's own Thanawiya Azhariya standard, and non-Arabic speakers generally sit a preparatory year at Al-Azhar's Arabic language institute before starting their main degree. Contact the MOHE sponsorship office or the Malaysian Embassy in Cairo's education section for the current self-funded application process and fee schedule, since these run outside the scholarship application and change independently of it.

Before you apply

Start with MOHE's Al-Azhar scholarship listing rather than MARA, apply within the stated deadline window, and prepare Arabic proficiency evidence or accept the preparatory year if you need it. Keep the MARA route in mind only as a case-by-case fallback for specific fields like medicine, dentistry and pharmacy, not as your primary funding plan.