The Malaysian Examinations Council (MEC), which was established on 1 February 1980 under the Malaysian Examinations Council Act (Act 225), is a statutory body which operates under the aegis of the Ministry of Education. It was officially launched on 22 April 1980 by the then Minister of Education, Dato' Musa bin Hitam.

MEC's establishment objectives

The objectives of the establishment of MEC are to conduct specified examinations and all other matters necessary or related to such examinations. The examination gazetted is as follows:

• Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) , which was first implemented in 1982 to replace the Higher School Certificate (HSC) and Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan (STP) examinations which were conducted by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES).
• After the takeover of the STP and HSC examinations by the MEC, the names of the examinations were changed to Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM).

The MEC was also established to realise the aim of conducting the examination wholly in the Malay language. This is in line with the implementation of the policy to use Malay language as the medium of instruction in the national education system from the primary level to the pre-university level, namely the sixth form.

MEC's scope of responsibilities

Since its establishment, the MEC's scope of responsibilities has expanded from its initial function of conducting only the STPM examination. The MEC has been responsible with conducting several important exams such as:

• Malaysian University English Test (MUET) 
• peperiksaan Penilaian Tahap Kecekapan (PTK)
• Malaysian Information Technology Examination (MITPE)
• Malaysian Educators Selection Inventory Examination(MEdSI)
• Malaysian University Selection Yearly Inventory Examination (MUnSYI)
• Shariah Registered Financial Planner
• Shariah Registered Financial Planner Capstone
• Shariah Registered Financial Planner Ad-hoc
• Registered Financial Planner Capstone.