Life and Dots of Daniel

Malaysian University League

If there is one competition I'd like to watch, it would certainly be the Malaysian University League. QS Quacquarelli Symonds has just released the Times Higher Education-QS (THE-QS) World University Rankings 2008.  (www.topuniversities.com)

From my very own understanding, this THE-QS ranking was only established four years ago, ever since it has has been closely scrutinise from students, employers and academics all across the world. A ranking to me is a ranking. Whether the ranking is of absolute depends on how a person sees it. Some may debate that these rankings define the success of a university in whole but I suggest that these rankings be a useful reference. It is very subjective though.

Why not head to this page to read more on the preview and methodology of the ranking system, that is provided if you are interested.

In the context of Malaysia, the overall rankings of our local universities are as below:

1st: Universiti Malaya - 230 (↑ 16 from 246)
2nd: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia -250 (↑ 59 from 309)
3rd: Universiti Sains Malaysia - 313 (↓ 6 from 307)
4th: Universiti Putra Malaysia - 320 (↑ 44from 364)
5th: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia - 356 (↑ 59 from 415)

What does the results show? Overall, improvement is there. Four out of the five Malaysia's very own league universities are improving while there is a slight drop in one of the universities. USM was just recently being promoted to an accelerated programme for excellence university, the so-called APEX University.

My university, you should know I study in UTM, has improved from last year's ranking and it is only the second year UTM is on the list. UTM should be able to catch up with USM and UPM in a matter of time if our new Vice Chancellor works hard enough to ensure UTM being listed as a research-based university. Nothing is impossible, have faith.

The Vice Chancellor, in his statement said that UTM has improved in three of the six criteria used in the rankings. UTM maintained a good standing in the recruiter’s review index, jumping to 158th place compared to 161 last year which signifies a remarkable acceptance of the industry’s confidence in UTM graduates. Due to the continuous efforts in international networking and marketing, significant improvements were made in the international staff indicator, moving from 495th position to 185th place and international students’ indicator soared from 446th place in 2007 to 214th place this year. (Source: UTM Today)

Citing Quacquarelli, "Malaysian universities would need to put in greater effort and sustained investments to gain more recognition in their research work and citations. Improvements should also be made to increase publications in research journals and citation profiles in international academia."

I wonder why am I saying all these, not that I want to be an academician at the moment. My confession is it does come across my mind, but not now because I believe a good academician should be well-rounded in theoretical and practical understanding.

(For further reading, read this and this.)