KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (July 5): By routinely receiving good national and international ratings, a group of four Malaysian government-linked universities (GLU) has established itself as a leading institution. Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), Multimedia University (MMU), and Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) are all wholly owned by government-linked companies (GLC), and have been recognized by the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and Times Higher Education (THE) rankings, as well as the Malaysia Research Assessment Instrument (MyRA) and Rating System for Malaysian Universities (SETARA).
UTP is ranked 70th in the QS Asia Rankings 2021, UNITEN is 168th, MMU is 190th, and UniKL is in the 291st to 300th ranking band, according to GLU.
UTP is ranked 414th, UNITEN is in the 751st to 800th band, UniKL is in the 800th to 1,000th band, and MMU is in the 1,001st to 1,200th band, according to the QS World University Rankings 2022.
Meanwhile, according to THE Asia University Rankings 2021, UTP is ranked 111th, UNITEN is ranked 201st to 250th, while UniKL and MMU are both ranked 401st.
Malaysian universities maintained their good place in the newly released THE Young University Rankings 2021, which identifies the world’s best universities that are 50 years old or younger.
UTP is ranked 134th, whereas UNITEN is ranked 251st to 300th, MMU is ranked 351st to 400th, and UniKL is ranked 401st.
MyRA has also recognized all of the universities’ outstanding achievements in research, development, and commercialization.
UNITEN received five stars, MMU and UniKL received four stars, making UTP the first private university in Malaysia to get a six-star rating.
UTP received six stars or outstanding status in SETARA, a rating instrument for teaching and learning, while the other three universities received five stars or excellent status.
Prof Dr Mohamed Ibrahim Abdul Mutalib, UTP vice chancellor and GLU chairman, said that all of the institutions took part in various ranking and rating activities in order to position themselves as respected academic partners for higher education and credible research partners for industry.
“One of the goals of the GLU’s creation is to drive collaboration strategies aimed at improving academic output, enhancing research, development, and commercialization efforts, and creating sustainable institutions that can contribute to the creation of knowledge, provide returns to industry, and have societal impact.”
“The GLUs have enormous potential to grow and become Malaysia’s leading education organization and a global player in education,” he said.
Other GLU council members, including UNITEN vice chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Kamal Nasharuddin Mustapha, MMU president and chief executive officer Prof Datuk Dr Mazliham Mohd Su’ud, and UniKL acting president and CEO Prof Dr Shahrulniza Musa, repeated Prof Mohamed Ibrahim’s sentiments./n
