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Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) emerged as the world’s most improved institution, among those with 10 or more ranked subjects, with an overall improvement of 82%.
It was one of only eight universities in the world with 10 or more entries that did not suffer a decline in its subjects.
The 2023 rankings analysed the performance of 210 programmes offered at eight Malaysian universities, of which, 56 improved, 53 declined while 90 remained unchanged. Eleven programmes were ranked for the first time.
Besides UTP, the other seven universities are Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), and Taylor’s University.
UM was Malaysia’s strongest institution overall, with 36 subjects ranked, including 15 in the world top 100.
In terms of total subjects ranked, UM was followed by USM and UKM, each with 24 subjects ranked.
Some key highlights include UTP breaking into the world’s top 20 to place 16th for petroleum engineering due to improvements in academic and employer reputation.
Taylor’s University also found itself among the world’s 20 most improved institutions of those with 10 or more ranked subjects. It has shown a 42% year-on-year improvement and is home to three top 100 programmes.
International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) climbed nine positions into 19th, breaking into the world’s top 20 with theology, divinity and religious studies.
In a statement, QS senior vice-president Ben Sowter said Malaysia now enjoys higher than average scores in all of QS’ indicators except academic reputation.
“Therefore, further investment and internationalisation will be needed to support Malaysia’s next stage of development, alongside continued targeted investment in research infrastructure to ensure the international academic community recognises this progress,” he said.
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