Second Education Minister Idris Jusoh has advised students who excel in public examinations not to be obsessed with going abroad to continue their studies without obtaining prior guidance.

He reasoned this was because the education offered in the country through the Public and Private Higher Education Institutions (IPT) was of good quality, with some being of better standard than those offered overseas.

According to him, based on reports from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, education in Malaysia was not only affordable but also easily accessible and of high quality.

"We do not prevent them from studying abroad, but the students must decide intelligently because sometimes, these foreign universities are not able to provide them the best education and they return home with a degree which is not suitable with the country's requirements," he said.

Idris was speaking to Bernama after meeting with top SPM students of Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz Besut in Kampung Raja, Besut today.

He said some IPT in the country were now able to provide good education, adding that some among them offered better standards than foreign universities in engineering, biotechnology, ICT, agriculture, language studies and even in the medical field.

He said some IPT in the country such as Universiti Malaya, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia, International Islamic University Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Mara and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia had been ranked by the QS World University Rankings.

Idris urged teachers and parents to play their role in helping students select their field of study, according to the needs of the nation so that parents and students would not be disappointed one day when the students were forced to continue their studies locally after failing to follow the education trend while abroad, thereby wasting much time and money.

- Bernama