Open Terminal and follow the below instructions
1. sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/Matlab.desktop
2. Copy the following into the gedit window
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=true
Icon=/home/jai/Pictures/matlab-icon.png
Name[en_GB]=Matlab
Exec=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2011a/bin/matlab
3. sudo cp /usr/share/applications/Matlab.desktop /home/***/Desktop/
where *** is username
4. sudo chmod 777 Matlab.desktop
