10 top institutions for your child to study engineering in Malaysia

If the movie Three Idiots is anything to go by, studying Engineering is just as much desired by parents as their child becoming a doctor.

So how do you decide on which institution in Malaysia to choose for your budding engineer?

For your sake, the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), responsible for quality assurance of higher education for both public and private sectors, has introduced Discipline-based Rating System or D-SETARA today.

The D-SETARA system assesses the quality of teaching and learning of a certain field of study only.

Participation in D-SETARA is voluntary; invitations were made to all HEIs offering undergraduate programmes and have had the first batch of graduates in 2011.

The Engineering discipline involved only HEIs which offer four-year degree programmes.

Awarded 5 stars, these are institutions you want your kids to sign up for (in alphabetical order):

1. Curtin University Technology Sarawak

Curtin Sarawak is the largest international campus of Western Australia’s Curtin University and was the first foreign university campus to be set up in East Malaysia.

Located in Miri, Sarawak, it offers students an international and cross-cultural learning environment in a unique Malaysian setting. It boasts a 1000-acre purpose-built garden campus with stylish architecture and state-of-the-art facilities. Additionally the university has IT linkages to allow students access to the Curtin resources at the main campus in Perth.

Read more about this institution click here.

2. Monash University Sunway Campus

Its prestige and position as a premier university, both from a research and academic angle has manage to draw in a large number of international students as part of its nearly 5,000 strong student body.

The first foreign university to open a branch in Malaysia, Monash has been providing high quality education to local students since 1998. September 2007 saw the opening of a new campus with state-of-the-art facilities, a medical school and new laboratories befitting their reputation as a top notch research university.

Read more about this institution here.

3. Multimedia University

MMU pioneered the private institution industry in Malaysia, serving as a model for the successful establishment of other private universities in the country. With its vision of producing graduates highly caliber in cutting edge technology through research and development, MMU claims to be a catalyst for propelling the nation’s ICT industry.

Multimedia University (MMU) is Malaysia’s first private university set up through Universiti Telekom Sdn. Bhd. (UTSB) vision of educating the next generation of leader’s.

Read more about this institution here.

4. Universiti Malaysia Perlis

Established in 2001 as Kolej Universiti Kejuruteraan Utara Malaysia (KUKUM), the aim of the university was to produce a new breed of engineers to respond to technical requisites needed in the Malaysia’s Industrial Master Plan.

Read more about this institution here.

5. Universiti Putra Malaysia

Formerly known as Universiti Pertanian Malaysia, UPM started off as a university specialising in the agriculture sector. Besides the main campus at Serdang, UPM has a branch campus located at Bintulu, Sarawak.

Read more about this institution here.

6. Universiti Sains Malaysia

Universiti Sains Malaysia is the second public university established in Malaysia in 1969 and was first known as Universiti Pulau Pinang.

Started from an enrolment of 57 science based students, USM has grown and expanded, offering undergraduate and postgraduate programmes to 20,000 students locally and internationally.

Read more about this institution here.

7. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia is Malaysia’s oldest engineering and technological public university.

UTM is known for producing most of Malaysia’s workforce in engineering and technological sector and is actively involved with joint research programmes with other international universities such as Cambridge, Oxford, MIT, Imperial College, Stanford Research Institute, Kyoto and Tokyo.

Read more about this institution here.

8. Universiti Teknologi Mara

Universiti Teknologi Mara is the flagship institution of Universiti Teknologi Mara System, the largest system of higher education in Malaysia which consists of four satellite campuses, 12 branch campuses, nine city campuses and 21 affiliated colleges that educates over 170,000 students.

Read more about this institution here.

9. Universiti Teknologi Petronas

Built under the aegis of Malaysia’s oil and gas giant, PETRONAS, UTP was created to educate the future members of this high-flying, technical industry.

Formed in 1997, the university is built on a beautifully landscaped 1000 acre site in a new township. Boasting top-of-the line laboratory facilities, a beautiful multi-story library and new housing and faculty infrastructure, the university forms an aesthetically pleasing yet constantly developing environment for students.

Read more about this institution here.

10. Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman

With several campuses across the country and nearly 20,000 students, UTAR embraces the concept of evolving and innovating to face new challenges and fulfil market demands.

Built based on holistic principles, UTAR emerged from its beginnings as a college and morphed into one of the better known private universities in Malaysia.

Read more about this institution here.

Don't forget to check out these honorable mention of other institutions rated with D-SETARA 4 stars in Engineering:

International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)

Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur (IUKL)

Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus

University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus

UCSI University

Universiti Selangor (Unisel)

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)

Universiti Malaya (UM)

Universiti Malaysia Pahang

Universiti Malaysia Sabah

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka

Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia