The education, innovation and talent development deputy minister told the state assembly that applicants must still meet the academic and course-specific requirements set by their chosen institution. He described the general degree-entry requirement as five UEC Grade Bs, with extra prerequisite subjects for some programmes.

The participating institutions are Swinburne Sarawak, University of Technology Sarawak, Curtin University Malaysia and i-CATS University College. This is not a blanket promise covering every university or every course: students must enter one of the 64 courses covered by FTES. Once admitted to an eligible course, UEC holders do not need a separate FTES application, he said.

English remains important because it is the main teaching language for most programmes. Some institutions have their own English-proficiency requirements, including IELTS or CEFR-based criteria. Applicants should therefore check the exact programme requirements rather than assume that the clarification removes all language or subject conditions.

As of June 30, the minister said 192 UEC students had tuition coverage under the scheme: 137 at Swinburne Sarawak, 33 at UTS, 21 at Curtin Malaysia and one at i-CATS.