Efforts to boost local university rankings paying off

KUALA LUMPUR: Efforts by the government to prop up local institutes of higher learning in international university rankings are beginning to pay off, Minister of Education II Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh told the Dewan Negara today.
Idris said Universiti Malaya (UM) had risen from position 32 to 29 in the QS Ranking Asia, while Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) had risen from 57 to 49, and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) from 66 to 61.
"Meanwhile in rankings by country, Malaysia's ranking had improved from number 28 to 27 in the world," he said when replying an oral question by Senator Tan Sri Ibrahim Shah Abu Shah.
Idris said this is the result of the government's efforts to improve local universities' international ranking under the Higher Education Blueprint 2015-2015.
The initiatives under the Higher Education Blueprint 2015-2025 include using other universities with similar socio-economic and socio-cultural circumstances as a benchmark and increasing publicity of the niche areas of local universities.
Other methods also mentioned by Idris are to enhance research, publishing, education, teaching, and student development, and the solidify the Malaysian Research University Network (MRUN).
Besides the international rankings, Idris said Thomson Reuters have recognised four local professors as one of the most influential scientific minds in the world.
Furthermore, Malaysia had overtaken Singapore in research papers published in 2010 and 537 Malaysians have been certified by the world's top 20 universities.
Idris said these include 101 certified by Cambridge University, 93 certified by Imperial College London, and 71 from the Oxford University.