MALAYSIAN universities failed to break into the top 100 ranking of Asia-Pacific’s best universities, with Universiti Malaya not making the top 200 universities in the region.

The inaugural Times Higher Education (THE) Best Asia-Pacific universities’ ranking saw seven Malaysian universities make the list, with Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in the lead at a dismal 128th position.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) ranked 130, followed by Universiti Teknologi Petronas (138), Universiti Sains Malaysia (149) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (154).

Universiti Teknologi MARA(UiTM) and Universiti Utara Malaysia(UUM) listed in the 200 and above band.  

THE’s Asia-Pacific University Ranking 2017, published yesterday, analysed universities across 38 nations in East Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania and is released to reflect the region’s growing strength in the higher education sector.

The National University of Singapore topped the list. The others in the top five, in order of ranking, are China’s Peking University, Australia’s University of Melbourne and China’s Tsinghua University.

It uses the same performance indicators as the more well-known THE World University Rankings, but weightings were adjusted to reflect the younger profile of some of the universities in the region.

Universities in China, Hong Kong and South Korea all made it to the top 20.

Japan is the most represented nation in the list with 69 universities, followed by China with 52 universities. Other countries with strong presence include Australia (35), Taiwan (26), South Korea (25) and Thailand (nine).

UM’s non-existent ranking is a surprise, following its placement as the top Malaysian institution when it placed 59th in THE’s ranking of top Asian universities this year.

UM was placed 114th in the QS World University rankings this year, an improvement from the 2016 ranking of 133. However, the university – once considered one of the best in the region – has never managed to break into the top 100.

Phil Baty, editorial director, global ranking at THE, later told The Malaysian Insight that UM is missing from the ranking purely on technical grounds.

He said because of the data collection cycle, the 2017 ranking was drawn from its existing database of universities built for the September 2016 World University Rankings.

“UM was invited to take part in the data collection process at a later date, enabling it to join our Asia university rankings 2017.”

UM will appear in future rankings, he added. – July 5, 2017.