World University Ranking - UM and USM...... The Debate Goes On

For more than a week, much has been debated on the quality of the local education standard after the "disastrous downward" perfomance for the nation most prestigious university - Universiti Malaya (from 89th to 169th) in The Times Higher Education Supplement.

However,

UM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Hashim Yaacob said that the marks the university obtained is more significant than its ranking. UM scored 0 in the employer survey and highest (33) for peer review. The university also scored low in citations (1%) and international students (7%).

“I think that universities have taken the ranking exercise more seriously this year and this has resulted in many of them improving their positions greatly.

“I am not worried because we are still within the top 200 and for the first time a Malaysian university has broken into the top 50 in the arts and humanities and the top 100 in the social sciences.”
(The Star, 30th October 2005)

The vice-chancellor noted that there were more than 30,000 universities worldwide and UM still managed to be in the top 200.

“I want to share my happiness with you that although there are so many universities in the world, we are number 169,” he said, citing other top universities which had dropped by many notches."
(The Star, 2nd November 2005)

At the same time, our nation 2nd ranked university (Universiti Sains Malaysia) was marginally out from the top 200 list, dropping from 111th to 200th.

USM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Dzulkifli Abdul Razak said that the addition of new criteria such as the employer survey could have contributed to the sharp drop in the university’s position.

“Our poor standing could also be attributed to the fact that we are a relatively young university compared to UM which is 100 years old. They have built up a stable reputation in that time.”

Prof Dzulkifli also cited the poor staff-student ratio in Malaysian universities.

“Over the past years we have doubled our intake. USM now has 35,000 students including 28,000 undergraduates but the number of lecturers, about 1,800 has not increased in tandem.”
(The Star, 30th October 2005)

An immediate action by USM:

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has engaged a London-based consultant to report on the reasons for USM being dropped from the list of the world's top 200 universities published in The Times Higher Education Supplement 2005.
(The Star, 8th November 2005)

How about UM?
UM continue to highlight its "outstanding" ranking in the campus billboards on being:

45th in Arts and Humanities,
82nd in Biomedicine and
83rd in Social Science.

Pak Lah:

The Prime Minister wants Universiti Malaya (UM) to study why its ranking among the world’s top 200 universities slid from 89th position last year to 169th this year.

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he was sad to hear of the drastic drop for the country’s oldest university.

“I hope UM will take the necessary action to rectify it.”
(The Star, 30th October 2005)

Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Fu Ah Kiow said :

"...there was no question it must be improved but questioned the accuracy of the survey, especially when a number of respondents were foreign lecturers and students."
(The Star, 30th October 2005)

Let's hear from our Opposition Leader, Lim Kit Siang:

"...the drop in ranking showed “the deep and prolonged crisis of higher education” in the country and urged the ministry to end its “denial syndrome”."
(The Star, 30th October 2005)

Universiti Malaya’s vice–chancellor should be reprimanded for not being worried that UM has dropped 80 places in the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) World University Ranking 2005, said Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang.

Lim said the Cabinet should censure Prof Datuk Dr Hashim Yaacob for his public pronouncement that he was “not worried” and instead felt “great happiness” over the decline of the university’s position in the international ranking.

He also described the situation as “prolonged and worsening crises of higher education” in the country.

In a statement yesterday, Lim called for ministers to highlight the matter during the Cabinet meeting.
(The Star, 6th November 2005)

3 points e-mail proposal to cabinet on world-class universities: (Kit Siang's blog)

Firstly, the establishment of Royal Commission on World-Class Universities in Malaysia, not headed by former government servants but eminent academicians, such as Royal Professor Ungku Aziz, former UM Vice Chancellor Professor Syed Hussein Alatas, former Vice Chancellor of Hong Kong University Professor Wang Gung Wu or distinguished academicians like Dr. Chandra Muzaffar and Prof. K.S. Jomo.

Secondly, the appointment of the “best and brightest” to lead the universities, whether as Vice Chancellor or Deans, starting with the appointment of an outstanding university academic as Vice Chancellor of University of Malaya.

Thirdly, the repeal of the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) to restore the critical faculties of inquiry, meritocracy and academic freedom to usher the return of an university ethos of academic excellence, social awareness and national commitment by academicians and students with the ability to know the difference between right and wrong and the passion to right injustices.

Let's give it a thoughts and strive to improve the quality and professionalism in our teaching, syllabus and education system.


Note: This write-up is a selective excerpts from the newspaper articles and personal blog, used for personal reading and do not meant for any offensive or controversial opinion.