PM lauds varsities improved rankings

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday congratulated the five public universities in the country that were listed in the top one per cent of the world’s best 300 universities.

The five universities are Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), which showed an improvement in the world ranking list for the year 2017/2018 issued by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).

“Congratulations to UM, UPM, UKM, UTM and USM vice-chancellors for the leap in university ranking as announced,” said Najib in a post on his Twitter account yesterday.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said UM ranked the highest among the Malaysian universities at 114th place.

UPM recorded the greatest improvement after jumping 182 places from 411 in 2013/2014 to 229.

UKM went up 72 places to 230 compared with 302 in 2016/2017, while USM improved by 66, from 330 in 2016/2017 to 264 in 2017/2018. UTM went up 101 places from 355 in 2013/2014 to 253 this year.

UM acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Awang Bulgiba Awang Mahmud said this was a testament to the success of the Higher Education Blueprint and the universities’ hard work.

“The ranking is a benchmark for us to see where we are on the world stage. We can look to improve our rankings by increasing the number of high-quality international staff and students.

UPM Vice-Chancellor Prof Datin Paduka Dr Aini Ideris said the university’s vast improvement in the world rankings was a reflection of its vision to become a learning institution of international repute.

She also expressed confidence that UPM would accomplish its Putra Global 200 goal by breaking into the world’s top 200 universities by 2020.