PUTRAJAYA — Four Malaysian public universities, all of which are research universities, have improved on their rankings in the 2020 QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) University Rankings as compared to last year.
Education Minister Dr. Maszlee Malik in announcing on the rankings said Universiti Malaya (UM) rose to 70th place from 87 last year.
According to the QS World University Ranking 2020, he said Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) ranked at 159 from its former position of 202; Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) (160 from 184); Universiti Sains Malaysia (165 from 207) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia climbed up 11 places from 228 places last year.
“The ranking series saw 20 local universities have been listed this year, with 10 universities improving from last year’s ranking, while two universities retained their positions. Seven more have been ranked for the first time and one university declined its position from last year’s rankings,” he said in a press conference here yesterday.
A total of 15 public and private local higher education institutions are also listed in the top 1,000 QS World Rankings, namely UCSI, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Taylor’s University; Management & Science University; Universiti Utara Malaysia; Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia; Universiti Teknologi Mara; Universiti Malaysia Perlis; and Sunway University.
Also in the list were Universiti Malaysia Pahang; Universiti Multimedia; Universiti Malaysia Sarawak; Universiti Tenaga Nasional; University Tunku Abdul Rahman; and Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
According to Maszlee, the ranking development proved that the government was on the right track in providing quality higher education institutions in the era of the Industrial Revolution 4.0.
He, however, stressed that the ministry will not prioritise a university’s position or ranking, instead emphasised on the academic excellence and university’s role to become problem solvers of issues faced by society and the nation.
“The ministry hopes all universities have the ability to produce researchers and academic researches, that can be a reference at the global level, and at the same time, assist in getting the best rank in the world ranking,” he added.
— BERNAMA
