Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (CU)_ In this year’s Quacquarelli Symonds’ (QS) World University Rankings by Subject, 32 Malaysian courses have made it to the top 100 universities for the study of an academic subject. The QS said that the addition of two programmes demonstrates Malaysia’s global growth in the higher education sector. Following the results, the QS said, “This is two more than last year, with University Malaya entering the top-100 for Environmental Sciences (89th) and Pharmacy & Pharmacology (97th). The number of top-200 Malaysian programmes has risen from 90 to 95 year-on-year”.
Taylor’s University ranked first in Malaysia for its Hospitality and Leisure Management programme, moving up one place to 17th this year. It was the only university in Southeast Asia to rank in the top 20 for the same degree programme. University Teknologi Petronas took second place in Malaysia for its Petroleum Engineering program. Along with Russia’s National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, it was ranked 23rd in the world.
University Teknologi Malaysia was another local university that was ranked 41 for the same subject. This year, University Malaya climbed six places to 32nd place for its Library and Information Management programme. For the courses of theology, divinity, and religious studies, the International Islamic University of Malaysia and the University of Oslo in Norway shared the 33rd place. It climbed up four places in the rankings compared to last year.
In the 21st edition of the QS World University Rankings by Subject, 16 Malaysian programmes were included for the first time this year. The QS said, “The most noteworthy new entrants are USCI University’s Hospitality & Leisure Management department, which enters in the 51-100 band; and University Teknologi Malaysia’s Mineral and Mining Engineering course, which enters in the 51-60 band”. Malaysian universities performed best in Business & Management, with 13 institutions entering the QS list and Electrical Engineering with 12 Malaysian institutions and Computer Science and Information Systems with 11 Malaysian institutions.
According to QS spokesman Jack Moran, Malaysia has improved its international visibility in higher education and overseas partnerships over the last five years. Malaysia is also the second-top transnational education host country for the United Kingdom. The QS spokesman said, “Such international collaborations are doing much to help provide high-quality, accredited tertiary education programmes to Malaysian students, but they are also helping Malaysian institutions to cultivate stronger international recognition”.
He added, “However, to continue improving further in our rankings and sustain their improving global reputation, it is imperative to ensure that high-quality Malaysian research is submitted to reputable journals, which will have much stronger, enduring positive effects on the sector’s outcomes”. QS evaluated the performance of 14,435 courses from 1,452 universities and 51 academic disciplines across five diverse faculty fields, for the 2021 edition of the rankings.
