PUTRAJAYA today defended Malaysian universities' dismal ranking in global assessments, saying that although young, these institutions of higher learning have made some gains.

Education minister II Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said local institutions of higher learning are less than 50 years old, with the oldest among them – Universiti Malaya (UM) — is only 60.

Despite their relative youth, he said the institutions have moved upwards, citing the 2014 QS World Ranking which ranked UM at 151st position, up from its 167th spot a year before.

Four other universities have also improved their positions, namely Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in 259th place (269 in 2013), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in 294th spot (355), Universiti Sains Malaysia in 309th position and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in 376th spot.

"Our universities are young. We need time. We are not as bad as stated. We are soaring upwards. Hopefully, by 2020, two of our universities will be placed in the top 100 in the world," he said in referring to the ministry's target when replying to points raised by MPs debating the royal address today.

Idris also cited four academics from public universities who were named in Thompson Reuters’ world’s most influential scientific minds as well as International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)'s achievements in publishing books on Islamic banking, as proof that the local institutions are slowly making strides.

Malaysian universities, consistently,  have performed poorly in university rankings tables in the world, hardly cracking the top 200. For instance, no Malaysian university made it into the top 400 list of the THE World University Rankings for 2014, while the Academic Ranking of World Universities produced by Shanghai JiaoTung University placed UM in the 301-400 bracket in 2014.

For the US News “Best Global Universities” listing, UM was the only Malaysian institution that made it into the top 500 at number 423. In the Ranking Web of Universities compiled by Webometrics, UPM was best ranked at 420, followed by Universiti Sains Malaysia (480), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (552) and UM (646).

Despite the poor showing, Idris has declared on previous occasions the country's education system is world class, earning him brickbats from opposition politicians and educationists. – March 23, 2015.