Wee praises UTAR’s achievements

PETALING JAYA: Despite its “young” age, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman’s (UTAR) is the second highestranked local institution in the country.

Congratulating the varsity for maintaining its position in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2019, MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong said UTAR’s achievement was commendable.

Being ranked among the top 600 institutions globally, and second only to Universiti Malaya (UM) locally, was an achievement for such a young university, he added.

“UTAR had a strong citation impact, scoring an impressive 80.5, compared to UM’s 59.1, Universiti Teknologi Petronas’ 26.7, and Universiti Sains Malaysia’s 18.8.”

Started by MCA in 2001, UTAR received its first intake of 411 students in the following year, he said.

Today, it has more than 25,000 students enrolled in over 110 programmes at its Sungai Long and Kampar campuses.

“We can see the institution making great strides amid various constraints in the past 16 years.

“I am pleased to see it blossoming into one of the outstanding tertiary education institutions in Malaysia, and I look forward to its continued success,” he said, while lauding Malaysia’s stronger presence in the rankings released yesterday. .

“Not only has UM climbed higher in the table, seven other institutions are also listed again, with two more – Universiti Teknologi Mara and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak – joining in this year.”

Malaysia has 11 institutions represented in the 2019 table – up from nine last year.

The annual table lists more than 1,250 higher education institutions from 86 countries.