(May 21): Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh today said it was unfair to judge Malaysia’s education by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) study, which ranked countries according to 15-year-olds’ proficiency in science and mathematics.

He told the Dewan Rakyat that the study, which placed Malaysia at 52nd place out of 76 countries, derived its results from the 2012 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results, which he said were no longer relevant.

“They are using the facts from the PISA 2012 results. But in 2014, we took a new PISA test. The results will be out soon, maybe next year,” Idris said during question time.

“In 2013, we published a new (education) blueprint. So it is unfair for us to judge our education system based on facts from 2012.”

Idris said this in reply to DAP Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang, who had noted in his question that Malaysia was among the bottom third in the OECD study. Lim also said that Malaysian varsities could not rely on the QS Quacquarelli Symonds rankings alone to evaluate their performance, and asked when they planned to take part in the Times Higher Education (THE) rankings.

“We are aware that the QS ranking isn’t the only ranking out there. But we must begin with the QS rankings. For instance, children start out by riding ponies before they ride horses,” said Idris.

He said THE emphasised research and citation in its rankings, and told the Dewan Rakyat that last year’s SCimago Journal and Country Rank revealed Malaysia had published more journals than Singapore in 2013.

“We can see clearly that we have begun to surpass Singapore in publication. And it is not impossible for us to outdo Singapore in other rankings.

“God willing, we will participate in THE’s rankings. We will not be left behind in playing a role in THE,” said Idris.

He reiterated his belief that Malaysian universities could compete with the world’s best, including Oxford University within a few decades, if they kept up their efforts to improve. – The Malaysian Insider