Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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(Apr 29): Two Malaysian universities have made it to this year’s QS World University Rankings by subjects, compared to just one last year, global higher education research and rankings outfit QS Quacquarelli Symonds said.

Universiti Malaya (UM) is placed 32nd in the top 50 universities for the subject of Development Studies, while Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) slid three places from last year to 31st for Environmental Sciences.

The rankings by subjects also include 10 local universities. Within the global top 200, eight Malaysian universities are listed for 23 subjects.

They are UM (23 subjects), Universiti Putra Malaysia (19), USM (18), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (16), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (10), Universiti Teknologi Petronas (4), Universiti Teknologi Mara (3), Universiti Multimedia (2), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn (1), and Universiti Utara Malaysia (1).

Five Malaysian universities also appear within the top 100 of the disciplines ranked, with UM again leading the pack with appearances in seven subjects, followed by USM (6), UKM (2), UTM (2) and UPM in one discipline.

UM is featured in the top 100 for the subjects of Development Studies, Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering; Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Chemical Engineering; Linguistics; English Language and Literature, and Architecture/Built Environment.

USM is listed in the top 100 for Environmental Sciences; Chemical Engineering; Mechanical, Aeronautical & Manufacturing Engineering; Electrical & Electronic Engineering; Development Studies; Architecture / Built Environment.

UPM is also included in the top 100 for Agriculture & Forestry, while UTM is in the top 100 for Chemical Engineering and Architecture/Built Environment.

Within the top 150, UTM features for Mechanical, Aeronautical & Manufacturing Engineering; Electrical & Electronic Engineering; Civil & Structural Engineering.

“There are ups and downs for Malaysia in this year’s QS World University Rankings by Subject,” said QS head of research, Ben Sowter.

“Whilst it has in part been down to extended ranges in some subjects, the number of Malaysian institutions represented has increased from six to 10, with a strong showing in some of the newly introduced subjects such as Architecture and Development Studies, in each of which three Malaysian institutions appear in the top 100.”

Serdang MP, Dr Ong Kian Ming welcomed the improved results and  said that the faculties featured in the rankings should be encouraged to continue performing.

“However, we need to see the long term trend in order to have greater confidence that our public universities are on an upward trend,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

“I’ve always been of the opinion that we can’t take just one ranking seriously, we need to take into account the multitude of rankings out there to have a more holistic picture of our universities’ performance.”

The DAP politician said it was important to look at internal Malaysian rankings, such as the Malaysian Research Assessment Instrument (MyRa) and the Rating System for Malaysian Higher Education (Setara).

He cautioned Putrajaya not to use the QS rankings alone as proof that Malaysia’s universities were world-class.

“We have a long way to go, and our education minister should be realistic of our current status.”

British and American universities continue to lead, while Switzerland’s ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) got the top ranking globally for Earth & Marine Sciences, and 5th in Electrical & Electronic Engineering.

Similarly, Sweden’s Karolinska Institute is top worldwide for Dentistry, while The Netherland’s Delft University of Technology is ranked second for Civil & Structural Engineering and third for Architecture / Built Environment.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is represented the most number of times, being ranked as the world's top in 12 different disciplines, followed by Harvard (10), University of California, Davis (2) and Oxford (2).

Although Malaysia performed well in the annual QS Rankings, it has never featured in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings or World Reputation Rankings, and has only once made it into the Top 100 Universities under 50 years old, with UKM being plaxed 98th in 2012.

Malaysian varsities also failed to make THE’s list of the world’s seven fastest-rising young universities in the world, even as neighbouring Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) debuted at first place despite being just 24 years old.

Education Minister II, Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh was optimistic about Malaysia’s universities, and said last week that it was not impossible for them to be on par with Oxford University. – The Malaysian Insider

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