Guide
In-house or public Microsoft training — which one your team actually needs
Both are the right answer in different situations. The deciding factors are how many people, how similar their needs are, and whose data they will practise on.
Updated 25 September 2026
A public class is a scheduled course anyone can book a seat on, usually at a training centre. An in-house course is delivered to one organisation’s people, at its premises or a venue it chooses, on dates it picks. For Excel, Power BI, Copilot and the rest of Microsoft 365, both formats are widely available in Malaysia and both are claimable from HRD Corp.
Neither is better in general. This guide sets out when each one wins, including the cases where we would point you to a public class rather than the in-house training this site arranges.
The short answer
If you are training one to three people, or people with very different needs, a public class is usually the better buy. If you are training a team of five or more who share a set of files and processes, in-house training usually costs less per person and changes more about how the work is done.
| Situation | Usually the better fit |
|---|---|
| One to three people | Public class |
| People with very different levels or roles | Public class, or split groups |
| Someone who needs a specific certification | A certification-track class |
| A team of five or more on shared processes | In-house |
| Training built on your own files and reports | In-house |
| Staff in Sarawak or Sabah, several people | In-house, with the trainer travelling |
| Confidential data that cannot leave the office | In-house, at your premises |
Where a public class wins
A public class is priced per seat, so for one or two people it is simply cheaper than booking a trainer for a whole day. It also runs on a fixed calendar, so there is nothing to organise: book, attend, done.
Public classes also suit individuals whose needs do not match anyone else’s in the company — the one analyst moving into Power BI, or the manager who wants a certification track. Mixing them into a team course built for different work serves nobody well.
Where in-house wins
In-house training is priced per group, so from about five people upwards the cost per person usually drops below a public seat. Under HRD Corp’s cost matrix the in-house cap is per group per day, while the public cap is per participant per day — the funding follows the same logic.
The larger advantage is content. An in-house course is built on your spreadsheets, your reports and your approval processes. People practise on the work they will do on Monday, which is why the skills tend to stay in use. A team that learns one way of building a report together also keeps each other using it.
Scheduling is the third factor. In-house dates are chosen around your operations, and a large team can be trained in batches so a department is never emptied at once.
How HRD Corp funds each format
Both formats are claimable where the provider and course are registered and the grant is applied for before the training. The difference is the unit: in-house training is capped at RM10,500 per group per full day, and public classes at RM1,750 per participant per full day, under the January 2026 Allowable Cost Matrix.
A quick way to see where the lines cross: at the public cap, six people cost RM10,500 for one day, which is already at the in-house cap for the whole group. From that point, adding people to an in-house course adds no course fee at all.
East Malaysia changes the arithmetic
For employers in Sarawak and Sabah, the scheduled Microsoft classes often run in the Klang Valley, so a public class adds flights, accommodation and days away for every person sent. With in-house training one person travels — the trainer — and HRD Corp’s matrix allows airfare for external trainers from other towns to be claimed.
That is why, for East Malaysian teams of more than a few people, in-house delivery is often the simpler option as well as the cheaper one.
Questions
›What is the minimum group size for in-house training?
HRD Corp’s matrix sets a minimum of 2 trainees per group for face-to-face in-house training, with the fee cap prorated below 5. In practice, in-house training becomes good value from about five people.
›Can we mix people from different departments in one in-house course?
Yes, if their needs overlap. Finance and operations staff often share an Excel course well. If one group needs basics and another needs Power Query, two shorter sessions work better than one compromise.
›Is in-house training available online?
Yes. HRD Corp treats in-house remote online training as its own category. For hands-on software training in-person delivery is usually more effective, but online works well for a team spread across several branches.
›Can several companies share one in-house course?
HRD Corp runs a scheme for this, Skim Latihan Bersama, where employees of two or more registered employers attend one in-house course and the fee is split per participant. It can suit small companies in the same group or area.
Get a scoped quote
Tell us the course, your team size, where you are and whether you pay the HRD Corp levy. Within one working day you get a suggested course shape, next steps on a quote, and how to claim it through HRD Corp.