About UPSI

The history of UPSI dates back to 1922 when the University was then known as the Sultan Idris Training College (SITC). It was set mooted by the then Deputy Director of Malay Schools, Sir R.O. Winstedt as a training college for Malay teachers. Named after the late Sultan Idris Murshidul Azam Shah, the 28th Sultan of Perak, the college was opened on 29 November 1922 by the Chief Secretary of the Federated Malay States, Sir George Maxwell.

The initial instructional regime required students to complete a three year course of training where traditional skills and arithmetic were taught. With the adoption of the Education Ordinance 1957 based on the recommendations of the 1956 Education Committee Report (better known as the Razak Report), the training course was extended to 5 years and new subjects were introduced. SITC also came to be officially known by its Malay name, Maktab Perguruan Sultan Idris (English: Sultan Idris Teachers College) or MPSI.

In 1976, MPSI became co-educational with the admission of the first batch of 150 female students. In 1987, MPSI was upgraded and renamed Institut Perguruan Sultan Idris (English: Sultan Idris Teachers Institute) or IPSI and new courses were made available leading to a degree conferred by Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (today known as Universiti Putra Malaysia).

IPSI was upgraded to a full university bearing its current name on 1 May 1997 in line with the plans by Malaysia to increase the number of graduate teachers in both primary and secondary schools .Sultan Idris University of Education or UPSI is a public university in the town of Tanjung Malim, Perak in Malaysia. First established in 1922 as a teachers college, it is one of the oldest functioning institutions of higher learning in Malaysia.