In terms of the rankings, QS Quacquarelli Symonds Limited managing director Nunzio Quacquarelli says Universiti Malaya (UM) is the highest ranked at 246, followed by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) at 307, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) at 309 and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) at 364.
Quote from The Star Nov 11,2007
The released of the QS World University Rankings 2007 saw all of Malaysia University drop out of Top 200 for the first time. It is not just happen to our local university which has suffer a big drop, but China's university and Singapore university as well.
There has 4 changes of the methodology for 2007 ranking compare with last year. This may be the main reason why this year ranking has bigger changes than previous year. However, I believe 2007 ranking actually is the best reflects the truth so far.
Download the complte QS ranking 2007 here in MS word format.
Top 200 University ranking
Top 50 for Arts
Top 50 for Life Sciences
Top 50 for Natural Sciences
Top 50 for Social Sciences
Top 50 for Technology
What is the changes?
1. Peer review
The peer review for 2007 has restricted the academics to complete the survey in the favour of their own university. This will effect the country that has less university in the list as they can only review university other than his country according to QS explanation.
2. Changes of citation data
The main changes is the source of citation data from ESI (Thomson) to Scopus. However, QS claimed that Scopus database is less pronounced bias towards the US. Besides, Scopus covers a larger numbers of papers and journals and more sources in languages other than English.
3. Consistent usage of Full Time Equivalent data for personnel related data
Qs said there was reporting confusion of the number of faculty from a university. Therefore FTE is implemented and this indicator is more accurate.
4. Z-score aggregation
Z- score or normal score is replaced the scaled against top performer. Previous year, a small error of data collection for top university may affect other university ranking below. However, Z- score data error only effect the university itself and less influence ranking of other university.
Why Malaysia University drop in QS World University ranking
I do not have details of the score for each category of Malaysia University. Perhaps we can analyse from the 4 changes of methodology will affect our local university.
1. Peer review
Peer review is 40% of the overall score. I strongly believe all Malaysia university is score poorly in this area. Since our academics are not allowed to pick the university from their own country. Academics are asked to pick 30 university that they regard as the leaders in this field (science, bio medicine, technology, social science or the arts and humanities). So I believe the outcome of the result is less bias than previous year. To claim Malaysia is a small country and this method of evaluation is disadvantage to smaller country is totally not making any sense. Look at National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technology University (NTU)which score 100 and 84 respectively in peer review is the best answer for those who think this is the answer of Malaysia universities vanish from Top 200 list. Instead, we should ask why we are in the Top 200 last year because our academics have do the survey favour for their own university?
Note: NUS and NTU suffer poor score in Staff to student category result their drop in ranking.
2.Changes of citation data
OK, changing the citation data to Scopurs that cover more languages should be a good news to our local universities that previously complaint many of the research papers is written in Malay. Although, I don't know the exact score, we can presume it does not help much for the Malaysia universities to climb up the ranking. It also shown that local universities is weak in research and citation data that covered only in English is not the reason Malaysia universities rock bottom the table previous year.
3. The remaining two methodology only make the QS ranking more accurate and i believe is neutral to Malaysia university.
Other matters arise from QS ranking
1. UM vice-chancellor Datuk Rafiah Salim has claim the UM is back to No 1 in Malaysia and No 4 is South East Asia. We all know that NUS and NTU is both in the Top 200 list. Singapore Management University is unlikely to be included in the ranking survey, I strongly believe the South East Asia No 3 spot go to Thailand, Chulalongkorn University . Chulalongkorn University is in ranking 161 in 2006 and is rank 83 in Social Science and 100 in Technology. Click the link here.
2. Government(JPA) unwilling to recognised the degree from China and Taiwan university for many years. Universities from China and Taiwan have been consistently beaten our local university in the World university ranking. However, Malaysia is more willing to recognised degree from Indonesia and Egypt for example. I really can not understand what is the point to recognised the degree that is inferior to our local degree but ignore the higher standards one.
Perhaps, we no need to be too serious of the ranking as our local public universities not even pass for the fundamental things. Exam questions and notes is the same for many years, no interactive teaching method, quality of the lecturers , student selection method, Dean, administration of university that lack of education vision and much much more. Perhaps you can add in the comments.
I really can not understand how can we select students in two different of qualification, STPM and matriculation. STPM is accepted by Oxford, Matriculation? If both matriculation and STPM is open to all the students and yet there are students opt fro STPM, I can only say I admire their courage. However, everyone know it is not the case. I predict there will be no changes of the education unfairness for the next 50 years in Malaysia, although I hope it will not.
May be back to the basic of the education is the solution, not only for the ranking but for the future of our country.
13 comments:
i'm currently studying in one of those public universities in malaysia and i can comment that what i'm studying now is all outdated stuff. And the lecturer keep on simplified the syllabus just to help some "students". i guess u know who are they...
This kind of word play shows a complete contempt for the intelligence of the Malaysian public.
Public perception in Malaysia is a crude measure of any institution's performance because the information provided to the public is generally packaged and filtered by Umno-controlled television station and media.
Universities are themselves fiefdoms, controlled not by qualified and capable academic administrators, but rather by Umno political appointees, many of whom have absolutely no background in education management.
Clearly it is because the results of the THES and virtually every other public or private ranking system show Malaysia institutions to be mediocre at best and most rankings do not even mention Malaysia at all.
Our neighbors like Singapore, Korea, Japan, China and Australia have a number of institutions that regularly appears in the top 100.
It makes no sense. The reality is that our universities are simply mediocre extensions of a flawed high school system. Our best students have no choice but to travel abroad to earn a decent education and must do so at great costs.
Our government has shown by example, that nepotism, deceit, corruption and bribery are the key ingredients for success in this nation.
This country has racist laws that discriminate against minority citizens. Over the last 3 decades the discrimination has gotten from bad to worse.
The policies of this government reminds us of South Africa's apartheid days which was condemned by all humanity.
I wonder how these racists can reconcile their actions with the tenets of their religion.
NEP as implemented has always involved using government funds for the intended beneficiaries. When it was the intention of the government to create the richest malay to head the list of richest individuals, now announced by the prime minister, the government adopts the policy to give public funds directly or indirectly to private individuals so that he/she can become the richest individual malay in the country.
Mahathir declared that NEP would have met its objective when the government was able to create a millionaire among the malays. It was the first time he extended the objective of NEP to make malay millionaires, and facilitated the use of public funds to enrich his cronies. Badawi now extends the creation of malay millionaires to become malay billionaires, and also to lead in the list of the richest individuals in the country.
It is clear to the whole world that NEP created unfair hardships to the non-malays no matter how Umno wanted to justify it. Unlike article 153 which was supposed to be reviewed after 15 years from 1957, NEP was to be implemented for 20 years from 1970. There was no provision for extension, and the only clearly stated quantitative target was that malays were to achieve 30% of corporate ownership after 20 years.
Badawi pretended that he wanted to be a prime minister for all Malaysians, and called for malays to forgo crutches. At the same time, he conveniently resurrected NEP and extended it to 2020, and his deputy suggested the continuation until 2057, for the present.
Prime minister and his deputy promised a year ago to reveal the methodology adopted by EPU, to challenge the results of ASLI finding that the 30% target had been achieved. His recent announcement makes ASLI finding irrelevant since NEP will continue forever, whatever the actual results show.
Ordinary malays appear to accept to pay a higher price for their motor vehicles when AP system which was exploited to enrich the well connected malays, they appear happy that NEP is continued even though NEP has caused a decline to their standard of living and level of earning. They accept that as a cost for enabling malays to lead the list of the richest individuals in the country.
Each time I read such comments, it always makes me feel how lucky I am to out of Malaysia.
Emigration is not for everybody but those who have done so, ultimately feel highly rewarded in terms of the future for themselves and their kids. Imagine them growing in an environment devoid of racial, ethnic and religious discrimination.
More importantly, they are now exposed to a wider community that embraces multiculturism, meritocracy, fair go and personal freedom. Guess which group will be better equipped to face the future challenges in this world?
Hisham decidedly subdued speech to Umno Youth at the party's recent general assembly was in mark contrast to his racist histrionics of last year. This showed one thing: even these morons in Umno are teachable after all.
We know that morons are slow learners, but then as we have seen even Umno morons are teachable. We just have to repeat the lessons more often, and increasing the punishment more severe each time they regress or forget their earlier lessons.
My objective as a committed cyberspace commentator is to make that rouge gallery bigger. I will not be satisfied nor will I stop, until that gallery has the country's biggest rogue included in its rooster.
I believe the Badawi son-in-law get into Oxford is because of international allocation seat and not because of intellectual or academic achievement. After all, he shows to everyone that he is brainless.
To me, Ketuanan Melayu is the false notion of malay greatness or malay supremacy. Truth is - there is nothing to associate the malay race with greatness.
By any widely accepted standards, it will be obvious to see that the malay race does not qualify to be called one of the great races on this world. Truth is that the Chinese and Indians have a culture accomplished far greater and much more than these jokers have.
It should be Chinese and Indian supremacy in Malaysia. The only reason why malays have power in Malaysia is because they have the biggest population, and the racist rhetoric of the malay Umno politicians always sway the malay vote towards themselves.
Anyway, back to the untrue notion of Ketuanan Melayu. Let us see what malays have accomplished. Has any malay won the Nobel Prize - no. Has any malay been nominated for the Nobel Prize - most probably not.
By contrast, numerous Chinese and Indians have won the Nobel Prize and various other awards. The Chinese and Indian diaspora is widely recognized as two of the three most successful diasporas in history, the other being the Jewish diaspora. All over the world, Chinese and Indians have become successful artists, CEOs, doctors, filmmakers, scientists, writers, etc, etc.
Name one malay who is widely recognized around the world in his or her field. The only malay whose name might be recognized out of this country is Mahathir, and he is part Indian. Is malay culture recognized as a world renowned culture - no.
Malay culture, if cultures were ranked, would be close to the bottom. What is their culture compared to the great Chinese and Indian cultures that are centuries old and really rich! The Chinese and Indians have a 5000 years old history during which China and India have played a very important part in world history.
Nobody knew about malays until the Indian kings of south India first came here. That is why the oldest archeological remains in Malaysia, in Lembah Bujang, are Hindu temples.
The malay sultanate itself was started by a Hindu - Parameswara. And even at the height of its power, the Malacca sultanate was nothing more than a vassal of the Chinese emperor.
Have any malay architect designed anything worthwhile - no. Have any malay author won the Booker Prize or the Pulitzer Prize - no. Have any malay filmmaker won an Oscar - no. Have the malays achieved anything in sports - no.
Chinese and Indians have achieved all this. So there is no real Ketuanan Melayu. It is a fiction concocted by racist stupid politicians to keep the "kampung malays" happy thinking that they have had a glorious past.
They don't. Their history isn't worth mentioning. You would never find a mention of malays or Malaysia or Tanah Melayu in most books of world history while entire chapters are devoted to the history of China and India.
The discriminative constitution and law of Malaysia is just a recognition of this fact. The malay leaders and to every single malay knows that on a level playing field, the malays will never be able to compete with the Chinese and Indians.
As to the discussions, I can see some hatred in it but then none of it was untrue. I think most Malaysians have done a good job maintaining harmony and peace, but I can see how and why some may be pushed to hatred because of all the discrimination that goes on.
I mean come on, the discrimination towards non-malays is so wide-ranging that I am sure some people will feel robbed.
How do you think a Chinese or Indian student feels when he has worked his ass off to study for STPM and gets excellent result and then sees his malay friends who didn't work as hard and get as good result fly off to the England, Japan, USA etc, under JPA scholarship!
How do you think a Chinese or Indian contractor feels when his superior contract bid loses out to an inferior bid by a malay company!
What is going on in Malaysia is wrong. We should work towards creating a pure meritocracy, because history has shown that only meritocracies prosper and survive. It seems now that the Chinese or Indians don't even get fair representation in legal matters, as illustrated by the Moorthy case. Things need to be changed before bad things start to happen.
I am utterly sickened by the deleterious and tirade spewed forth from the mouths of these Umno imbeciles. They certainly will not get my vote come this election. Such recalcitrants are incorrigible and their warped-minds will be their downfall, lest they sincerely repent.
Pak Lah has been derelict in his duty and appears to be incompetent.
Current events in Malaysia speak of a government that is out of control because of Pak Lah's lack of leadership. Each time something of major public concern occurs, he hides behind the scene and lets his ministers or some other person manage the problem.
A good leader will come out in the open and lead from the front not the back.
It is not proper for the government to tell the Bar Council, the country's best legal brains, what to do when its so-called law minister does not even understand the basic notion of natural justice.
The Election Commission is another tool of the government when it is supposed to be fair and neutral. How can it claim to be an election commission when everyone knows that the electoral boundaries are so biased and skewed against democracy? Is it any wonder that the Barisan always wins the elections?
The other crucial factor is the bureaucracy, those public servants who are under the people's payroll.
In Japan, for example, you see this separation of the bureaucrats and the politicians clearly. So no matter who forms the Japanese government, the bureaucracy is able to function effectively and smoothly and in fact there is even a joke that you don't need the politicians to run the country in Japan.
The government is so used to deceit and doublespeak that it is unable to think straight and that is why it is full of contradictions. Take for example, the shameful keris waving matter. Now they are coming out and saying that it will be a permanent part of their political culture.
Western kings and princes have a ceremonial sword as part of their attire but we don't see their politicians waving swords at their political meetings do we?
But in Malaysia, reminiscent of Hitler's Nazi youth groups, can do it and we know the outcome of such behaviour years later.
The country spends untold sums of money on religion, building mosques at taxpayers expense, spending millions and millions on religious schools, yet corruption is so rampant and it affects every echelon of the economy. For years, every Malaysian knows that the traffic police are corrupt. Yet the government has not done anything to stop the corruption.
Let us face it. Call an ace an ace and a spade a spade. The Malaysia government has been in power for too long and lost its moral compass. It is lost in the jungle of greed. The only thing worse than a corrupt government official is the people who support him.
The non-malays know that Pak Lah and his cronies tell them one thing and another to their own people. They are masters of doublespeak and politicians are renowned for speaking with a forked-tongue.
More and more malays now know that only a handful of cronies take the lion's share of the nation's wealth which is meant to be distributed among them more evenly. Mahathir duped them with his plan to establish a few super rich malay tycoons.
The state of the nation is not healthy. Pak Lah's administration has failed the moral test. He himself has failed the test that he established himself. Judged by his own standards and words, he has failed. Tell me the truth, work with me, yak, yak, yak, but what do we get? The opposite! And now that the Bar Council has told him the truth - he scolds them. Shish.
Let us face the truth. Politicians are not royalty born to lead. They are given the chance to lead. Take away Pak Lah's role and what is he? Look at the high and mighty Mahathir. Where is he now?
The Malay Dilemma was a myth created by Mahathir to exploit the psyche of a victim's complex innate in the malays of yesteryears. But cunning Mahathir made it out that the British and the Chinese put the malays at a disadvantage. And after 50 years of Umno rule, what have changed?
Malaysians should not be stupid but angry that their country is being exploited by the people they elected to benefit them. It took a long time to get 5000 people to sign the petition to the King. It should have taken five minutes! Or five days.
But if I announce a free porn video, be sure I will have 500000 people sign up. The young in Malaysia had better wake up and start to do something about their country, about their future.
Don't be fooled by the politicians who say the Chinese are the enemy, the Indians are the enemy, the Malays are the enemy. There is only one enemy. The one who is corrupt. Everyone else is your friend.
Save Malaysia and take part in every activity that you can and vote out the corrupt politicians to make your country a better place.
Remember your future is in your hands and don't blame anyone if you suffer because you made the wrong choice. The last time many of us were fooled - but once bitten, twice shy. Do I need to say more?
Hahaha, once again we should appreciate the stupidity of government officials. This is great opportunity to embarrass them more……..not that they have not embarrassed themselves bad enough.
Any way you look at it, the rally by Bersih to send a memorandum to the King for a clean and fair election was a stunning success.
Although the local press has down played the significance of the demonstrations, the sea of yellow among the brave protestors drenched in rain facing the police force, is the beginning of the common peoples awakening, partaking their democratic rights in wanting a better deal from the present regime.
Although the police force and the prime minister had warned the public not to participate in the so-called illegal rally, it has fallen on deaf ears for those who are fed up with government abuses and excesses of power.
To think that nearly 40000 people took part in the demonstrations speaks volumes about the ordinary peoples brave attempt to make their voices heard about the ills of the present regime to our constitution monarch.
While the police force had used water cannon and tear gas to disperse the crowds and even though scores of people were arrested, no loss of lives was reported, thank God for that.
I suppose in the globalised world that we live in, autocrat leaders dare not excessively beat up those who oppose them, as it will be highlighted in the foreign media. While the local demonstrations is mild compared to Burma and Pakistan, still one wonders why the police had to use force to disperse the crowd.
As usual, we can expect the leaders in this country to denounce the demonstrations and call these brave souls "traitors" to the nation for taking their grievances to the streets. But if all avenues for a proper dialogue between civil group and the government are closed and the government is arrogant and does not want to listen to the people's voice of despair, expect more streets demonstration.
Let us hope that the King can reform the election rules in this country which favour the ruling parties. May our next general elections be untainted by money politics, phantom voters, one-sided medias and government machineries working in favour of the incumbent.
Watchdogs from other nations should be invited to observe the next general elections to ensure that the present regime cannot steal the elections as in 2004 where a lot of opposition leaders lost their seats due to phantom voters.
After all, Umno just had their last assembly where the delegates are confident that the voters will support them in the next polls. Fight like a man. Do not hide behind the government's skirt where all the dirty tricks are used to deny the opposition opportunities to win seats.
The present regime is in denial about all the ills that affect this nation. They, especially the dinosaur politicians who have been in power for more than two decades, still think that our people are uneducated and can be hoodwinked in any general elections.
Well, let them dream! May the Bersih rally mark an important milestone for the peoples desires to have a better Malaysia for our children and grandchildren to inherit.
God bless you all for your bravery in facing the police forces awesome power to intimidate people from exercising their political rights.
Do you think that our politicians actually care whether the universities are good? They want to produce followers, not leaders. They sent their own children overseas so that they come back to lead the followers.
Our followers think that the politicians are doing a great job by allowing more and more citizens into universities; voting them in office time after time.
There will come the time when the country is full of unemployed graduates. That is when the followers will hopefully wake up to the reality.
As for the VCs, head of departments, deans etc, they just follow the instructions and examples of their political masters. Just see all the wastage, injustice, inefficiency, discrimination, cronyism etc, and you will realise that they also have their political agendas just like their masters.
Bad intentions, bad universities.
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