Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah (USAS)

About Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah (USAS)

Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah, known by its abbreviation USAS, is a private Islamic university located in the royal town of Kuala Kangsar, in the state of Perak. The institution is registered under the Private Higher Educational Institutions Act 1996 (Act 555) and was proclaimed a full-fledged university by the Prime Minister of Malaysia on 10 June 2016, with the formal establishment date recorded as 15 June 2016. The university is named after the late Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah, the 34th Sultan of Perak and the 9th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, who reigned as Sultan from 1984 until his passing in 2014 and served as the King of Malaysia from 1989 to 1994.

The institutional history of USAS spans three decades and three names. The institution was initiated at the behest of the then Sultan of Perak Darul Ridzuan, the late Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah, in 1986. It began operations as Kolej Islam Darul Ridzuan, abbreviated KISDAR, on a temporary campus at Jalan Dato Seri Shaari off Jalan Raja Dihilir, Ipoh, with the formal inauguration by the Sultan on 16 February 1999. KISDAR was upgraded to university college status as Kolej Universiti Islam Sultan Azlan Shah (KUISAS) on 4 March 2013, and three years later was proclaimed a full university.

The current registered name is Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah and the operating institution holds the MQA registration code KPT/JPS(KA12183). The 50-acre permanent campus at Chandan Putri, Kuala Kangsar, sits on land conferred as waqf by Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah, then Regent of Perak and now Sultan of Perak, in February 2006. Campus construction completed in 2008 at a total cost of RM 66 million, and the late Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah personally officiated the permanent campus on 16 July 2009.

The institutional positioning of USAS is straightforward. Among the private universities of Perak, USAS is the only one founded under royal initiative, owned through Yayasan Sultan Azlan Shah, and oriented around Islamic studies, syariah, Quran and Sunnah, Arabic language, and Islamic education. Other Perak private universities such as Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP), Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Kampar, and Quest International University (QIU) operate in engineering, broad-spectrum sciences, and medical-allied disciplines respectively. None occupies the royal-Islamic niche that USAS holds.

The university serves a student population drawn principally from the Malaysian Islamic religious-school stream (SMKA, SABK, Tahfiz, and Maahad Tahfiz al-Quran graduates), supplemented by international intake from Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, the southern Philippines, and several West African and Central Asian countries with strong Islamic education traditions. Programmes run from foundation level through to doctoral research.

Kuala Kangsar Campus and Location of Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah (USAS)

Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah occupies a 50-acre permanent campus at Chandan Putri, on the outskirts of Kuala Kangsar, the royal town of Perak. Kuala Kangsar is the official seat of the Sultan of Perak and the location of Istana Iskandariah, the royal palace, alongside the Ubudiah Mosque, one of Malaysia’s most architecturally significant mosques. The town lies on the Perak River roughly 50 km north of the state capital Ipoh and 145 km south of Penang.

The Chandan Putri site was conferred as waqf, an Islamic charitable endowment, by Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah on 8 February 2006 in his capacity as the Regent of Perak. The waqf designation is institutionally significant: it places the land permanently in the service of the university’s educational mission and aligns the physical estate of USAS with the Islamic charitable framework that underwrites the academic mission. The construction of the permanent campus was completed in 2008 at a cost of RM 66 million, and the late Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah officiated the permanent campus on 16 July 2009.

The Kuala Kangsar location places the university within the cultural geography of Malay-Islamic heritage. The town is home to Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK), founded in 1905 and historically the most prestigious Malay residential school in Malaysia. The proximity to Istana Iskandariah, the Ubudiah Mosque, and the Royal Museum of Perak places USAS within walking and short driving distance of the principal sites of Perak’s royal heritage. For Islamic studies students in particular, the surrounding environment supports the kind of contextual immersion that pure academic instruction cannot replicate.

Practical access is straightforward. Kuala Kangsar sits on the North-South Expressway, with the nearest exit at the Kuala Kangsar interchange providing direct road access to the campus. By rail, the KTM ETS service runs through Kuala Kangsar station with direct connections to Kuala Lumpur (approximately 3 hours), Ipoh (40 minutes), and Penang (Butterworth, 2 hours). The nearest commercial airport is Sultan Azlan Shah Airport in Ipoh, with Penang International Airport approximately 2 hours by road for international students.

The campus accommodates the academic faculty buildings, the central mosque (a feature integral to USAS as an Islamic university), library, lecture theatres, hostel blocks, sports facilities, and administrative offices. The 50-acre footprint is meaningful by Malaysian private university standards, where many institutions operate from compact urban campuses in the Klang Valley. The campus environment supports the kind of residential, community-oriented Islamic university model that distinguishes USAS from metropolitan competitors.

Yayasan Sultan Azlan Shah Heritage and Royal Patronage of Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah (USAS)

Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah operates within the institutional framework of Yayasan Sultan Azlan Shah, the royal foundation associated with the name and legacy of the late Sultan. The foundation provides the broader patronage structure within which the university sits, and the royal-charter character of USAS distinguishes it from privately-owned commercial universities and from the federal public university system.

The institutional origin of USAS traces directly to royal initiative. The institution was initiated at the behest of Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah in 1986. KISDAR was established under the Enactment No. 3 Year 2000, Perak Darul Ridzuan State Government Enactment, which was tabled and approved by the Perak State Council on 19 November 2001 and granted by the Sultan on 6 March 2002. The original institutional vehicle was therefore a Perak state Islamic religious educational enactment, not a private commercial company structure.

The waqf land conferral in 2006 by Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah, then Regent of Perak, formalised the royal-Islamic character of the institution. Waqf in Islamic jurisprudence is an inalienable charitable endowment, and the designation places the campus permanently within the framework of Islamic charitable trust law. This is materially different from the commercial land acquisition typical of private universities.

The royal patronage continues to the present day. Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah, the current Sultan of Perak and son of the late Sultan Azlan Shah, succeeded his father in 2014 and serves as the institutional patron of USAS. The Sultan is closely associated with Malaysian higher education in his federal capacity as the Co-Chair of the Malaysian Royal Patron of higher education, and his personal scholarly background (he holds a doctorate from Harvard) lends an additional layer of academic patronage to the university bearing his late father’s name.

The Yayasan Sultan Azlan Shah framework also underwrites scholarship and bursary programmes for students in financial need, particularly those from the Perak rural and Islamic religious-school stream where private university fees would otherwise be prohibitive. The combination of waqf land, royal patronage, and foundation-administered scholarships situates USAS as a charitable Islamic educational institution in form, even as it operates under the private university registration framework of Act 555 in legal terms.

Programmes at Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah (USAS)

Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah organises its academic offerings across several faculties, with the institutional gravity firmly in Islamic studies, education, and the social sciences. The programmes span foundation, diploma, bachelor, master, and doctoral levels.

The Faculty of Islamic Studies and Social Sciences is the cornerstone faculty of USAS and the most institutionally distinctive. The faculty operates through three principal departments: the Usuluddin Department (Islamic Theology, Islamic Preaching and Thought, Al-Quran and Sunnah/Hadith, and Islamic Studies), the Syariah Department (Islamic Jurisprudence, Islamic Law, and related fields), and the Human Sciences Department (Human Development and Counselling). Bachelor-level programmes include the Bachelor of Islamic Studies (Hons), Bachelor of Syariah, Bachelor of Al-Quran and Sunnah, Bachelor of Usuluddin, Bachelor of Arabic Language, and Bachelor of Counselling.

The Faculty of Education delivers the Bachelor of Education (Hons) across multiple specialisations, including Islamic Education, with both pre-service teacher preparation and in-service upgrading pathways. The faculty’s positioning aligns with the broader Malaysian education ministry strategy on Islamic education teacher supply, and graduates feed into the SMKA, SABK, and Tahfiz school networks across the country.

The Faculty of Business and Management runs the Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons), Bachelor of Muamalat (Islamic Commercial Law and Business), and the MBA at postgraduate level. The faculty’s Islamic finance and muamalat orientation distinguishes the USAS business portfolio from secular business schools and aligns with the broader Malaysian Islamic finance industry.

The Faculty of Information Technology offers the Bachelor of Information Technology (Hons), providing a STEM pathway for students who do not enter the Islamic studies or education streams. The IT faculty diversifies the USAS academic portfolio beyond the core religious-studies disciplines.

At foundation level, USAS runs the Foundation in Islamic Studies, Foundation in Education, and Foundation in Business, each calibrated as the principal entry point for SPM, O-Level, and STAM holders progressing into the relevant degree pathway.

At postgraduate level, USAS runs Master of Islamic Studies, Master of Syariah, Master of Education, MBA, and Master of Information Technology programmes, alongside PhD pathways in Islamic studies, education, and management. Postgraduate applications run year-round with rolling supervisor assignment.

All programmes carry individual MQA accreditation codes and are listed on the MQA register under institutional code KPT/JPS(KA12183). Federal scholarship pathways including PTPTN are accepted for eligible programmes, alongside JPA, MARA, and Yayasan Perak funding.

Fees at Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah (USAS)

Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah is positioned as one of the more affordable private universities in Malaysia, a deliberate institutional choice consistent with the waqf-foundation framework and the royal-Islamic charitable mission. The fee schedule reflects the lower operating cost base of the Kuala Kangsar location and the non-profit institutional structure.

Programme	Total Fee (RM)	Duration
Foundation in Islamic Studies	~6,000 to 8,000	1 year
Foundation in Education	~6,000 to 8,000	1 year
Foundation in Business	~6,000 to 8,000	1 year
Bachelor of Islamic Studies (Hons)	~13,500 to 18,000	3 to 4 years
Bachelor of Syariah	~13,500 to 18,000	3 to 4 years
Bachelor of Al-Quran and Sunnah	~13,500 to 18,000	3 to 4 years
Bachelor of Education (Hons)	~18,000 to 25,000	4 years
Bachelor of Business Administration	~18,000 to 22,000	3 years
Bachelor of Information Technology	~18,000 to 22,000	3 years
Master of Islamic Studies	~10,000 to 15,000	1.5 to 2 years
MBA	~12,000 to 18,000	1.5 to 2 years

Indicative figures above reflect total programme costs for Malaysian students at the time of writing and exclude registration fees, examination fees, hostel accommodation, books, and personal expenses. Prospective students should request the current programme-specific fee schedule from the USAS admissions office before formal application.

The fee positioning of USAS sits materially below most metropolitan private universities. By comparison, equivalent Islamic studies and Syariah bachelor programmes at metropolitan private universities can run into the RM 30,000 to RM 50,000 range over the same duration. The USAS pricing differential is partly a function of the lower Kuala Kangsar operating cost base, partly the waqf land conferral that removes the property cost from the institutional financial structure, and partly the foundation-administered non-profit framework that applies operating surplus to scholarships and programme development rather than to shareholder distribution.

Hostel accommodation is available on the 50-acre campus at standard Perak student-rate pricing. PTPTN federal student loan funding is accepted for eligible undergraduate programmes, and Yayasan Perak, JPA, and MARA scholarships are accepted where applicable. The Yayasan Sultan Azlan Shah foundation administers internal bursary programmes for Perak students from low-income backgrounds and for high-performing students in the Islamic religious-school stream.

International student fees run on a separate schedule from the Malaysian-student rates above and should be requested directly from the USAS international office.

Accreditation and Recognition of Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah (USAS)

Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah is registered under the Private Higher Educational Institutions Act 1996 (Act 555) and holds Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) institutional accreditation under registration code KPT/JPS(KA12183). The university’s full-fledged status was proclaimed by the Prime Minister of Malaysia on 10 June 2016, with the formal establishment date recorded as 15 June 2016.

All bachelor, master, and doctoral programmes at USAS carry individual MQA programme accreditation codes and are listed on the MQA Malaysian Qualifications Register (MQR) under institutional code 81. Programme-specific accreditation can be verified directly on the MQA online register. The institutional listing is recorded under both the previous name (Sultan Azlan Shah Islamic University College / KUISAS) and the current name (Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah / USAS), reflecting the 2016 institutional upgrade.

Federal scholarship and student loan funding pathways recognise USAS qualifications across the standard schedule. PTPTN (Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional) federal student loans are available for eligible undergraduate programmes. JPA (Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam) federal civil service scholarships, MARA education sponsorship, Yayasan Perak state-level scholarships, and Yayasan Pelajaran MARA bursaries are accepted for relevant programmes. The accreditation profile is therefore comparable to other MQA-registered private universities operating under Act 555.

For graduates intending to teach in Malaysian government schools through the Islamic education stream, the Bachelor of Education (Hons) programme satisfies the entry requirements of the Ministry of Education’s teacher-recruitment and posting cycles. Graduates of the Bachelor of Syariah and related programmes are eligible for posts in the Syariah court system, the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM), state Islamic religious councils (Majlis Agama Islam), and the Federal Territory Religious Department. Graduates of the Bachelor of Al-Quran and Sunnah and the Bachelor of Usuluddin programmes are eligible for academic and religious institutional positions across Malaysia.

The institutional reputation of USAS in Islamic studies, Quran and Sunnah, Syariah, and Arabic Language is established within the Malaysian religious-education sector. The royal patronage, waqf land foundation, and Yayasan Sultan Azlan Shah backing provide the institutional credibility that distinguishes USAS from purely commercial private Islamic universities.

Admissions at Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah (USAS)

Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah operates a structured admissions calendar with twice-yearly principal intakes, typically in February or March and September, alongside year-round postgraduate intake.

Entry to the foundation programmes (Foundation in Islamic Studies, Foundation in Education, Foundation in Business) requires SPM, O-Level, or equivalent qualifications with the relevant subject grades. The Foundation in Islamic Studies typically requires credit passes in Bahasa Malaysia, Pendidikan Islam, and Bahasa Arab where available, alongside the standard SPM core subject grades.

Entry to the bachelor programmes in the Faculty of Islamic Studies and Social Sciences requires either STPM with strong passes in religious-studies and language subjects, completion of the USAS Foundation in Islamic Studies at the required CGPA, Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia (STAM) with the relevant grade, matriculation, or an equivalent qualification accepted by the MQA. Graduates of SMKA, SABK, and Maahad Tahfiz al-Quran institutions are well-aligned with the Bachelor of Al-Quran and Sunnah and Bachelor of Usuluddin entry profiles.

Entry to the Bachelor of Education (Hons) runs on the Ministry of Education’s pre-service teacher entry standards, including Bahasa Malaysia and English language requirements alongside the disciplinary subject prerequisites for the chosen specialisation.

Entry to the Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Muamalat, and Bachelor of Information Technology follows the standard Malaysian private-university science and business stream prerequisites at STPM, A-Level, matriculation, or completion of a relevant diploma or foundation programme.

Postgraduate admissions run year-round. Master and doctoral applicants should hold the relevant bachelor or master qualification as appropriate, identify a supervisor with research alignment for research-mode programmes, and submit a research proposal where required. The Master of Islamic Studies, Master of Syariah, and PhD programmes are particularly well-aligned with applicants from the religious-school graduate stream and from international Islamic education systems.

International applicants should factor in additional lead time for the Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS) student visa pass, which runs on its own processing window administered separately from USAS internal admissions decisions. The USAS international office provides documentation support for visa pass applications.

Application contact runs through the central admissions office at USAS Kuala Kangsar. The university website is usas.edu.my, where the current intake calendar, programme-specific fee schedules, and online application portal are published. Prospective students may also visit the campus directly for the open day events that USAS holds twice annually before each principal intake.

The Late Sultan Azlan Shah Connection to Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah (USAS)

Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah carries the name of the late Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Yussuf Izzudin Shah Ghafarullahu-lah (19 April 1928 to 28 May 2014), a national figure whose biography intersects Malaysian law, monarchy, and Islamic education in unusually concentrated form.

The late Sultan was a lawyer by training, having studied at the University of Nottingham and Lincoln’s Inn. He served as a judge of the High Court of Malaya from 1965, becoming the youngest person ever appointed to that bench at the time. In 1982 he became the youngest ever Lord President of the Federal Court, the highest judicial rank in the country. He held that position until his accession to the Perak throne on 3 February 1984, following the death of Sultan Idris Shah II. He was officially installed as the 34th Sultan of Perak on 9 December 1985.

In 1989, Sultan Azlan Shah was elected as the 9th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, completing the first cycle of the rotational kingship across the nine Malay royal houses. His five-year reign as the King of Malaysia ran from 26 April 1989 to 25 April 1994, after which he returned to his role as Sultan of Perak. His total reign as Sultan of Perak ran for 30 years and 114 days, the longest post-independence reign in Perak’s history and the second longest in the Sultanate’s full history.

The institutional connection of USAS to the late Sultan is substantive rather than ceremonial. The institution was initiated at his personal behest in 1986. He inaugurated the original KISDAR temporary campus in Ipoh on 16 February 1999. He officiated the permanent Chandan Putri campus on 16 July 2009, five years before his death. His son, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah, who as Regent conferred the waqf land in 2006 and now reigns as the 35th Sultan of Perak, continues the institutional patronage. The Sultan Azlan Shah name on the institution therefore reflects both the father’s founding initiative and the son’s continuing custodianship.

The late Sultan’s biography intersects the institutional mission of USAS in a way that goes beyond commemorative naming. His legal training and judicial career provide the institutional model for the Bachelor of Syariah and Master of Syariah programmes, where the discipline of Islamic law sits alongside common-law procedural rigour. His patronage of Islamic education during his reign shaped the original KISDAR mandate. His personal scholarly reputation and the published volumes of his judgments and speeches remain reference texts in the legal and Islamic studies literature, and the late Sultan Azlan Shah Foundation publishes scholarly work in his memory.

The Raja Permaisuri, Tuanku Bainun, who served alongside him as the Raja Permaisuri Agong of Malaysia from 1989 to 1994, has continued in widows’ patronage of the foundation since 2014. The institutional continuity from the late Sultan, through the Raja Permaisuri, to the current Sultan Nazrin Shah, places USAS within a multi-generational royal-Islamic educational mission rather than a single-generation founder’s bequest.

Comparison of Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah (USAS) with Other Perak Universities

Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah operates within the private universities market of Perak, where four principal private institutions and two public universities compete for the state-level higher education student population. USAS occupies a distinct positional niche compared to its Perak peers.

Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) in Seri Iskandar, Perak Tengah, is the engineering and technology flagship private university owned by PETRONAS, the national oil company. UTP runs petroleum engineering, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, civil engineering, computer science, information technology, and the foundation pathways into those disciplines. UTP’s positioning is industrial-engineering specialist, with substantial PETRONAS sponsorship for high-performing students. UTP and USAS do not compete head-to-head: the disciplinary footprint is non-overlapping.

Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) operates a major campus in Kampar, Perak, alongside its Sungai Long campus in Selangor. UTAR Kampar runs broad-spectrum bachelor programmes spanning engineering, science, IT, business, accountancy, communication, and the social sciences. UTAR is the non-profit private university owned by the MCA-affiliated Tunku Abdul Rahman Education Foundation. UTAR Kampar competes with USAS only at the margins (for example, in business administration and IT), and the institutional positioning is materially different.

Quest International University (QIU) in Ipoh is a private university with strength in medical, dental, and allied health programmes, alongside business, IT, and engineering pathways. QIU’s medical-dental gravity places it in a different programme cluster from USAS.

Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT) operates a Perak branch campus alongside its principal Setapak campus in Kuala Lumpur. TAR UMT focuses on business, accountancy, IT, and applied science programmes at sub-degree and degree levels, with limited overlap with the USAS Islamic studies portfolio.

The two public universities operating in Perak (Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris in Tanjung Malim and Universiti Teknologi MARA Perak campuses) operate under the federal public-university framework on different fee structures and entry mechanisms.

The clear positional summary is this: USAS is the only Perak private university with a full Islamic studies, Syariah, Quran and Sunnah, and Arabic language portfolio, royal-charter institutional origin, and waqf land foundation. The institutional moat is the alignment of royal patronage, waqf endowment, and Islamic religious-education curriculum, which no other Perak private university directly contests.

Contact and Application Information for Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah (USAS)

Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah maintains a central admissions office at the Chandan Putri campus in Kuala Kangsar. The principal intake calendar runs in February or March and September, alongside year-round postgraduate admissions.

The university website is usas.edu.my, which carries the current intake calendar, programme-specific fee schedules, faculty listings, and the online application portal. Prospective students should consult the USAS faculties and centres page for the current programme catalogue, the tuition fees document for programme-specific quotations, and the admissions office for personalised application advice.

The campus address is the permanent campus at Chandan Putri, Kuala Kangsar, in the state of Perak Darul Ridzuan. Direct campus visits are welcome during open day events, which USAS holds twice annually before each principal intake. Prospective students from outside Perak may travel via the North-South Expressway with the nearest exit at the Kuala Kangsar interchange, or by KTM ETS to Kuala Kangsar railway station.

In summary: Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah is the private Islamic university of Perak, located in the royal town of Kuala Kangsar, named after the late Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah (the 34th Sultan of Perak and the 9th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia from 1989 to 1994), founded as KISDAR in 1999, upgraded to KUISAS in 2013, and proclaimed a full-fledged university on 10 June 2016. The 50-acre Chandan Putri campus sits on waqf land conferred by the current Sultan Nazrin Shah, and the university operates under the institutional patronage of Yayasan Sultan Azlan Shah with bachelor fees from approximately RM 13,500 across the principal Islamic studies, education, business, and IT programmes.