Study in Asia: 16 countries compared
East Asia, South-East Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and the Gulf โ what each country's government publishes about its universities, and what you can do with it here.
16
countries in Asia with a section on this site
3
have a matcher: enter your own grades or scores and see where you stand
13
are directories or finders, where no entry data can be reused
Side by side
In alphabetical order, not ranked. Each country counts its institutions in its own way โ one lists universities, another every campus or college โ so the numbers describe each section, not the size of the country's system.
| Country | What you can do here | Listed | Usual first degree |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armenia | Directory โ deliberately incomplete | 33institutions listed | 4 years (bachelor) |
| China | Directory | 2,952universities & vocational colleges | 4 years (ๆฌ็ง) |
| India | Directory | 988universities & institutes | 3 years (BA/BSc), 4 years (BTech) |
| Indonesia | Directory โ community-maintained | 5,055universities, institutes, polytechnics & colleges | 4 years (sarjana) |
| Japan | Directory by prefecture | 1,175universities, junior colleges & colleges of technology | 4 years (6 for medicine) |
| Kazakhstan | Directory | 123universities, academies & institutes | 4 years (bachelor's) |
| Malaysia | Directory | 212public institutions & private universities | 3โ4 years |
| Oman | Directory + accreditation | 31universities & colleges | 4 years (bachelor's), usually after a foundation year |
| Qatar | Directory | 18public institutions, branch campuses & private colleges | 4 years (bachelor's) |
| Singapore | Degree salary comparison | 6autonomous universities | 3โ4 years |
| South Korea | Full matcher | 413universities & junior colleges | 4 years (2โ3 at a junior college) |
| Sri Lanka | Matcher on Z-score cut-offs | 42state universities & institutes, and non-state degree-awarding institutes | 3โ4 years (bachelor's) |
| Taiwan | Matcher on distribution-admission cut-offs | 60universities in distribution admission | 4 years (bachelor's) |
| Thailand | Directory | 160universities & colleges | 4 years (6 for medicine) |
| Turkey | Directory โ community-maintained | 203state & foundation universities | 4 years (bachelor's) |
| United Arab Emirates | Directory | 93universities, colleges & branch campuses | 4 years (bachelor's) |
Where you can match yourself
In these countries the published data includes something to compare your own number with โ a cut-off, an average entry grade or how contested a place is. Each quiz says exactly which, and for which year.
Every country, A to Z
Armenia
33 institutions listed
- How you get in
- unified national examinations, administered by the Assessment and Testing Centre
- Taught in
- Armenian, with Russian and English-taught programmes
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- 10 of 33listed institutions carry an enrolment figure. Armenia is small enough that the well-known universities are covered, but this is a Wikidata extract rather than a national register and the long tail is missing
- What we can't tell you
- Armenia's higher education statistics are published by the Statistical Committee in aggregate, not per institution, and the accreditation body ANQA's register carries no reuse licence. There is no open source for tuition, entry scores or graduate outcomes at institution level.
China
2,952 universities & vocational colleges
- How you get in
- ้ซ่ (gaokao), with provincial cut-off scores
- Taught in
- Mandarin, with English-taught degrees at the larger universities
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- 16 joint-venture & foreign campuseson the Ministry of Education's 2,952-institution list โ Sino-foreign universities, mainlandโHong Kong/Macau ventures and foreign campuses in Hainan
- What we can't tell you
- Only the Ministry's list of institutions is used. Gaokao cut-offs (set per province) and tuition schedules carry no licence permitting republication, and nothing is published on graduate earnings.
India
988 universities & institutes
- How you get in
- JEE, NEET, CUET and state exams, each publishing its own cut-offs per round
- Taught in
- English is widely the medium of instruction
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- Not published as open data
- What we can't tell you
- India publishes no per-institution fees, cut-offs or graduate earnings under any licence, and the Ministry's own directory may not be republished without permission โ which we have requested. Until then this list comes from Wikidata, which is community-maintained rather than official.
Indonesia
5,055 universities, institutes, polytechnics & colleges
- How you get in
- National selection for public universities (SNBP on school record, SNBT by test) plus each university's own admission
- Taught in
- Indonesian; international classes in English at some universities
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- Not published as open data
- What we can't tell you
- The ministry's national database holds enrolment, graduates and accreditation per institution and programme, but its data portal reserves all rights โ so this is a Wikidata list by province, which may include institutions that have since closed or merged.
Japan
1,175 universities, junior colleges & colleges of technology
- How you get in
- university-run entrance exams, plus the national Common Test for national and many public universities
- Taught in
- Japanese; English-taught degrees at a minority of universities
- What it costs
- ยฅ535,800/yrthe ministerial standard tuition at Japan's 85 national universities, which may charge up to 120% of it. Since April 2024 they may set separate, uncapped fees for international students on a student visa โ so this is a floor for a domestic student, not a quote for someone from abroad. Public and private universities set their own fees and none are published per institution
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- 2,972,412 studentsat 812 universities, per the Ministry's 2025 School Basic Survey โ published only as national and prefectural totals
- What we can't tell you
- Per-university data exists in ๅคงๅญฆใใผใใฌใผใ (University Portraits) but its terms grant no reuse, so there are no per-institution fees outside the national standard, no official entry scores โ hensachi are private exam-company estimates โ and no open graduate outcomes.
Kazakhstan
123 universities, academies & institutes
- How you get in
- Unified National Testing (UNT) results decide admission and the award of state grants
- Taught in
- Kazakh and Russian; English-taught tracks at a growing number of universities
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- 5.1% from abroad41,398 of 819,493 students hold no Kazakh citizenship, counted per university on the Ministry's platform
- What we can't tell you
- Tuition is set by each university and not published centrally, and there are no open entry thresholds or graduate outcomes per institution.
Malaysia
212 public institutions & private universities
- How you get in
- UPU centralised admission for public universities; private universities admit directly
- Taught in
- Malay at public universities; English widely at private ones
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- 8 branch campusesof foreign universities โ Monash, Nottingham, Heriot-Watt, Southampton, Xiamen and others โ among 55 private universities, which is where much of Malaysia's international study happens. The private list is from Wikidata, not an official register
- What we can't tell you
- Per-institution open data covers public institutions only and stops at 2021. The ministry's statistics, graduate tracer study and private-institution register exist but its terms forbid commercial reuse, so fees, entry requirements and outcomes aren't here.
Oman
31 universities & colleges
- How you get in
- General Education Diploma results, with places allocated centrally by the Higher Education Admission Center
- Taught in
- Arabic and English; English is the main language of instruction in most degree programmes
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- Not published as open data
- What we can't tell you
- Oman publishes each institution's centrally placed intake and accreditation status, but not total enrolment at private institutions, programme lists, fees or entry scores.
Qatar
18 public institutions, branch campuses & private colleges
- How you get in
- Set by each institution; the branch campuses apply their home university's admission standards
- Taught in
- Arabic and English; English at the Education City branch campuses
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- Not published as open data
- What we can't tell you
- No fees, entry requirements or programme lists are open data, the Education City branch campuses are reported as one combined figure, and enrolment stops at 2022/23.
Singapore
6 autonomous universities
- How you get in
- Indicative Grade Profile, set per university
- Taught in
- English
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- S$3,911/monthmedian gross starting salary six months after graduating โ published per DEGREE, the finest granularity of any country here
- For students from abroad
- 91%median employment rate six months after graduating, across degrees
- What we can't tell you
- No central entry requirements or fees โ each university sets and publishes its own.
South Korea
413 universities & junior colleges
- How you get in
- ์๋ฅ (CSAT) plus school record, through ์์ and ์ ์ rounds
- Taught in
- Korean; a growing number of English-taught degrees
- What it costs
- โฉ6.63m/yrmedian annual tuition at a campus institution, and the only figure here published PER FIELD OF STUDY โ Korea prices humanities below engineering below medicine, so the number you actually pay depends on your subject. National universities run around half the private rate
- What graduates earn
- 67.5%median share of graduates in work, measured from national health-insurance records rather than a survey โ a headcount, not a response rate, so it is not comparable with the earnings figures other countries publish
- For students from abroad
- 5.6:1applicants per place at the median institution, rising past 30:1 at the most contested. Korea does NOT publish ์๋ฅ scores per university, so this is how contested a place is โ never the marks you need
- What we can't tell you
- ์๋ฅ entrance scores are not disclosed per institution under any open licence, so no honest reach/target/safety on grades is possible. Graduate employment is published for the institution as a whole, not per department.
Sri Lanka
42 state universities & institutes, and non-state degree-awarding institutes
- How you get in
- A-level Z-score, with a cut-off per course for each of 25 districts set by the University Grants Commission
- Taught in
- Sinhala, Tamil and English; English in medicine, engineering and the sciences
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- 260 course cut-offsthe 2025/26 minimum Z-score for every state-university course, district by district
- What we can't tell you
- State-university places are for students who sat Sri Lanka's A-levels; international students apply to the non-state institutes or through separate quotas, whose terms aren't published as data.
Taiwan
60 universities in distribution admission
- How you get in
- Three routes: individual application, the Stars programme and distribution admission (ๅ็ผๅ ฅๅญธ), which ranks candidates on national exam subject scores weighted differently by every department and publishes each department's lowest admitted total
- Taught in
- Mandarin Chinese; department names are shown in Chinese
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- Not published as open data
- What we can't tell you
- Only the distribution route is covered โ about a third of places. The fee standard is published per university and college type without stating its period, and no outcomes are published per university. Technological universities use a separate system and are not included.
Thailand
160 universities & colleges
- How you get in
- TCAS โ the national admission system, run in rounds
- Taught in
- Thai; English in the ministry-labelled international programmes
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- 933 international programmesregistered with the ministry across 71 institutions, usually taught in English โ and 42,883 international students already enrolled
- What we can't tell you
- No per-institution fees, entry scores or graduate employment in the ministry's open data; admission scores sit in the separate TCAS system. The international-programme count follows the ministry's label, so universities that teach in English without it are undercounted.
Turkey
203 state & foundation universities
- How you get in
- National exam (YKS) with central placement by score for Turkish students; universities set their own terms for international applicants
- Taught in
- Turkish; English-taught programmes at many universities
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- Not published as open data
- What we can't tell you
- Turkey's official student statistics and programme entry scores, quotas and fees (YรK Atlas) carry no licence to republish, so this is a Wikidata list of universities by province and nothing more.
United Arab Emirates
93 universities, colleges & branch campuses
- How you get in
- Each institution admits on school grades and its own requirements; the ministry publishes each one's acceptance rate
- Taught in
- English at most institutions; Arabic at some federal and Islamic-studies colleges
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- 42 branch campusesof foreign universities on the higher-education ministry's 2026 register of 93 institutions
- What we can't tell you
- No total enrolment or fees per institution are open data, and Dubai's free-zone campuses report to a regulator whose data isn't licensed for commercial reuse.
What isn't here, and why
Asia is where the gap between published and reusable data is widest. Thailand's admission scores, Hong Kong's and Malaysia's entry data and India's opening and closing ranks are all published but reserved by their owners; Saudi Arabia's open-data portal can't be reached from outside the kingdom. Where that is the case the country's page says what the official source holds and why it isn't shown.
Figures are never converted into one currency or ranked across countries: each government measures cost and graduate earnings differently, and every figure above keeps its own definition.
Other regions
Each country's figures come from the source credited on its own pages, under that source's licence. This page adds nothing to them; counts and labels are CollegeMatcher's.