Guess where Malaysian universities rank in worldwide survey

The latest Times Higher Education (THE) World Reputation Rankings 2015 is probably causing students to scratch their heads in disbelief.

Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh had said in a recent statement that the country’s universities are world class and on par with varsities in Britain, Germany and Australia.

However, a report released based on the largest survey of leading academics across the world in the latest Times Higher Education (THE) World Reputation Rankings 2015 is probably causing students to scratch their heads in disbelief and ask: Where is Malaysia on that list?

“Unfortunately, not enough scholars around the world named any Malaysian university in sufficient numbers for them to make the top 100. Singapore had two top entries – NUS (National University of Singapore) in 24th place and NTU (Nanyang Technological University) in the 91-100 band,” said THE rankings editor, Phil Baty.

Other Asian universities in the top 50 of the World Reputation Rankings are the University of Tokyo (12th), Tsinghua University, China (26th), Kyoto University, Japan (27th), and Peking University, China (32th).

Baty explained that the ranking is based purely on expert subjective judgment of those who know most about excellent teaching and research – leading academics from all around the world.

"A university’s global academic reputation is vital – it not only influences investments and funding decisions, but more importantly, it helps a university to develop and nurture its single greatest asset: its student and academic talent," Baty continued. In-depth analysis of the rankings are available here.

This ranking is not to be confused with the QS University Rankings where Malaysia has universities in the top 300 and Universiti Malaya (UM) was at number 151 while Universiti Kebangsaan Malaya (UKM) was ranked 259th, last year.