UNIVERSITI Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) has emerged as the first private university in the country to receive a four-star rating by the world universities rating agency Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).
Vice-Chancellor Datuk Ir Dr Abdul Rahim Hashim said UTP has improved in its overall performance from last year, moving up from three stars to four, which is highly-recognised internationally and demonstrates the university’s excellence in research and teaching.
The overall results include achieving top five-star ratings in five fields out of eight, namely the high employability of its graduates, international feel of the community and campus, high standard of facilities, innovation, and accessibility of the university to students.
“The QS Stars rating system is widely recognised across the world and this award will help develop the university’s growing international reputation.
“With this recognition, the university can benchmark itself with the best international universities while also placing it in good stead when compared with other international institutions. This has raised our international brand awareness and we can now proudly add this notable achievement to our credentials,” said Rahim.
The QS Stars Rating System is used by more than 130 universities in 30 countries. The rating system is an in-depth analysis of a participating university’s system and the quality is graded between one and five stars.
It gives an overall institutional rating, as well as ratings in eight key fields, namely teaching, graduates’ employability, research, internationalisation, facilities, innovation, access and specialist subjects.
Incidentally, UTP has also earned a place in the QS World University Top 200 Ranking by Subject for Chemical Engineering and is the only private university in Malaysia to break into the QS Asian University Top 200 Ranking.
These significant and outstanding accomplishments in the university’s relatively short 17-year history since its establishment in 1997, is something which is not often seen in the arena of tertiary education, and speaks volumes for the institution’s standards of excellence.