Two Malaysian universities listed among world's top 50
Published on: Thursday, April 30, 2015
Kuala Lumpur: Universiti Malaya (UM) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) have been listed among the world's top 50 institutions in two of the 36 disciplines covered in London-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University rankings by subject.According to a press release on the study released Wednesday by the British education group, UM ranked 32nd for Development Studies, a new subject to be ranked for 2015, while USM tied for 31st place in Environmental Sciences.UM also made it to QS's top 100 rankings for Mechanical, Aeronautical & Manufacturing Engineering; Electrical & Electronic Engineering; Chemical Engineering, Linguistics, English Language & Literature and Architecture/Built Environment.
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USM, on the other hand, made it to the top 100 for its performance in Chemical Engineering; Mechanical, Aeronautical & Manufacturing Engineering; Electrical & Electronic Engineering; Development Studies; Architecture / Built Environment.Entering the world's top 150 was Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), which earned its rankings for Mechanical, Aeronautical & Manufacturing Engineering; Electrical & Electronic Engineering; Civil & Structural Engineering.A total of eight Malaysian universities, including UM, USM and UTM, made it into the top 200 list for a total of 23 subjects.The others include Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn University of Malaysia (UTHM), Multimedia University and Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM).
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However, QS head of research Ben Sowter said there were "ups and downs" for Malaysia in this year's QS rankings by subject."Whilst it has in part been down to extended ranges in some subjects, the number of Malaysian institutions represented has increased from 6-10 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," he said in the press release.
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Putrajaya is facing huge pressure for serious improvement in its education policies following the constant failure by local varsities to top global rankings in recent years.This year's ranking is a marked improvement from last year where only five private varsities appeared in the QS-Asia ranking list for last year, with only UTP taking a spot in the 191-200 range.The opposition had previously used the rankings to accuse Putrajaya of failing to make Malaysia's education system competitive but the government insisted that Malaysian varsities were on par with top schools from richer economies like the United Kingdom and the US.Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said in response to the accusations that available facts clearly showed that higher education in the country had continued to improve from time to time and was still on the rise.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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