According to the ‘2018 QS University Rankings: Asia’, Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) have reportedly moved up in the rankings and made it to the top 50 among 11,900 universities in Asia.
This milestone marks Malaysia’s best performance so far in the annual ranking.
UM is ranked in the 24th place, moving three spots from the 27th last year, while UPM moved up 13 spots from 49th last year to 36th in the new listing.
This year has proven to be a successful year for local institutions, especially UM.
In a report by New Straits Times, UM made it to the top 400 in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2018 just last month.
In June, the university also reportedly remained as Malaysia’s best university in the 2018 QS World University Rankings, sitting at the 114th position.
The three remaining local universities successfully broke into the top 50 ranking this year, with UKM in the 43rd place (previously 55th), USM taking 46th (previously 51st) and UTM improving the most, moving up 14 ranks from 63rd to 49th this year.
Meanwhile, two local private universities have also improved in ranking and made it among the top 200 in Asia – Taylor’s University in the 150th spot and Multimedia University in 179th.
There are 22 Malaysian universities in total that are ranked within Asia's top 300, both public and private institutions.
The global and regional university rankings are released annually by global higher education analyst, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).
Congratulations to all the universities that made it! Keep up the good work and we hope to see more institutions with better improvement in rankings in the years to come.