KUALA LUMPUR: Four Malaysian public universities have risen in this year’s Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Ranking 2016/2017, with a private university entering the fray for the first time.
Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Mary Yap Kain Ching said overall, Malaysian universities had proven that they were improving and continuously “soaring upwards”.
She said the universities had recorded an improvement in average citations per faculty score in line with major Asian nations.
“Undoubtedly, these achievements are a testament of the hard work, commitment and dedication of our lecturers and researchers and the wider higher education community. We thank the higher education community for this,” she said yesterday.
However, Yap said while local universities were committed to improving their ranking, it was not the sole priority as the long-term goal was to strengthen the fundamentals of the universities.
“The rankings are used as an input to facilitate this process.
“The ministry pledges to support our universities in their journey, in the pursuit of knowledge and ideas, in the quest to develop holistic and balanced graduates, and with the goal of providing Malaysians the best education they deserve, for a better Malaysia and a better future for all.”
Yap said Universiti Malaya (UM) continued to lead local universities in the QS World University Ranking 2016/2017, and hoped it would continue to set a positive example for other local universities.
UM, the nation’s oldest university rose from 167th position in 2013, to 151 in 2014, to 146 last year, and currently to 133 this year.
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia joined the global top 300 this year.
“UPM’s improvement in particular, where it has moved up an astounding 61 spots from 331 to 270, is highly commendable.”
Yap said although not breaking into top 300 band, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia rose from 312th to 302th, and it is hoped that it would break into the world’s top 300 next year.
“The ministry is encouraged by the new entry of Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) in the 601-650 band. This follows an equally strong showing in the QS Asia rankings where UTP was top 150 in Asia at 127. This indicates that our private higher education institutions are able to stake a claim on the world stage.
“While some universities have dropped in rank, we believe that they will bounce back and perform better next year,” she said.
UM, despite achieving the 133rd ranking in the world this year, was mindful about some worrying indications in the ranking results.
Its Vice-Chancellor Tan Sri Professor Dr Mohd Amin Jalaludin yesterday said the institute had suffered a loss in momentum that was built up in its internationalisation and recruitment efforts, mainly due to the funding reduction it faced in the last two years caused by the economic downturn.
“As a direct result, significant points were lost not only in the international staff indicator of the QS World University Rankings, but also the indicator of faculty-student ratio.
“The setback that slowed the university from making progression that matched its competitors had to be systematically dealt with for UM to make significant headway in gaining further international recognition and achieving a bigger leap in its position among world top universities.”