UTAR Continues to Excel with Self-Accreditation Status Award

Not resting on their laurels after joining the ranks of the top 120 universities in Asia, in the recently released Times Higher Education (THE) list, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) has now been awarded self-accreditation status by the Malaysian Qualifying Agency (MQA) of the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) on 20 March 2017.

Image via utar.edu.my

The self-accreditation status authorises a higher education provider to do its own self-assessment and accredit its programmes in accordance to the criteria set by the MQA, excluding some programmes that require a professional body’s recognition.

UTAR now stands toe-to-toe with seven other higher learning institutions who were awarded the same status on the day, including Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), International Medical University (IMU), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIAM), Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) and Multimedia University (MMU).

Image via abcsb.com.my

The self-accreditation status, first introduced by the MOHE in 2010, is only awarded to top performing universities in the country, granting them more autonomy in running their own academic programmes. As such, it was only granted once the MQA had conducted a thorough and rigorous institutional audit prior to the conferment of the status. This self-accreditation status is awarded to higher education providers which have demonstrated a strong and stable internal quality assurance system.

UTAR's success has now seen them follow in the footsteps of the first batch of recipients of the self-accrediation status, which included Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Monash University Malaysia, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Curtin University Sarawak and Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak.