The Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia Vokasional and the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia give access to
community colleges. Students are admitted with lower marks than those required for
entry into the polytechnics. Hence the level of education of a Diploma offered by a
polytechnic will be higher than one offered by a community college even though this
difference is not reflected in the Malaysian Qualification Framework (MQF).
In terms of level, the Diploma from a
community college (MQF level 4) is
comparable to an MBO diploma at
qualification level 3 or 4, depending on the
specialisation.