Abstract:

An equal access to the higher education in terms of gender has been successfully promoted in Malaysia. An increasing number of women have secured places and graduated from local private and public universities in this country. This shows that more and more women have gone through higher education and a significant number of them are now holding high posts both in the private and the public sectors.  Consequently, the previously ‘denied’ right of women to higher education because of gender is now a history in this country. This paper attempts to analyze an involvement of women in higher education in Malaysia with particular reference to graduate study in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The study shows an increasing interest and access to programs related to sciences and technical field by women as opposed to the art and education which was previously associated with women.  This trend signals positive development of women involvement in higher education in preparing knowledgeable human resources to the nation and thus provides a strong support to the women empowering strategy in Malaysia.