KUALA LUMPUR, 7 Feb 2018:
Universiti Malaya has been ranked in the top 50 for the first time by Times Higher Education (THE) – which today published the Asia University Rankings 2018.
Universiti Malaya is now ranked at 46, up from 59 last year. Overall, Malaysia has nine institutions in the top 350+.
THE editorial director of global rankings Phil Baty said: “It is great news that Universiti Malaya has joined the top 50 of this prestigious ranking; it now overtakes leading institutions such as the University of Macau, Kyushu University, National Chiao Tung University and Qatar University.
“Malaysia is among the Asian nations with the greatest higher education potential, largely thanks to its rapid growth in research productivity and high levels of income. It now needs to improve its research quality to stand out among the heavy competition in the world’s largest continent.”
He said Malaysia’s leading institution improved in all five areas underpinning the ranking – teaching, research, citation impact, industry income and international outlook.
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) has also improved and now joins the top 100 at 99 place (up from 111-120). Universiti Teknologi Petronas claims joint 114 place (up from 141-150).
However, most of Malaysia’s lower ranked universities have declined.
THE noted Malaysia’s universities generally have a strong international outlook and achieve quite high levels of industry income. The country’s weakest area is citation impact but this was an area of improvement this year.
It said Malaysia also picked up points for research productivity. However, the country’s scores for its proportion of international students, student-staff ratio and income per staff all declined.
The main trend of this year’s THE Asia University Rankings is the continued rise of China.
The People’s Republic now claims almost one in five places in the rankings and several of its institutions have made strong gains – not least Tsinghua University – which is now the country’s top ranked institution for the first time in the table’s six-year history.
The National University of Singapore holds onto the overall number one spot after improving its scores in almost all areas.
But many Asian nations are feeling the competition. While India, Japan, Pakistan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey have all increased their representation, several of their universities have fallen down the list.
Southeast Asian region’s stand-out higher education nation Singapore – which claims first and joint fifth place in the table – 10 Thai universities, nine Malaysian universities, four Indonesian universities (up from two last year), and the Philippines’ national flagship institution all make the table.
“In particular, Indonesia has doubled its representation for the second year in a row too. It is also a fantastic achievement that the University of the Philippines has jumped to joint 156 place from the 201-250 band.
“But not all nations in Southeast Asia are soaring. Thailand has suffered declines this year as the country grapples with an aging population and over-supply of higher education.”
| Institution | Country | Rank 2018 | Rank 2017 |
| National University of Singapore | Singapore | 1 | 1 |
| Tsinghua University | China | 2 | 3 |
| Peking University | China | 3 | 2 |
| University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 4 | 5 |
| Hong Kong University of Science and Technology | Hong Kong | =5 | 6 |
| Nanyang Technological University | Singapore | =5 | 4 |
| Chinese University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 7 | 11 |
| University of Tokyo | Japan | 8 | 7 |
| Seoul National University | South Korea | 9 | 9 |
| Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) | South Korea | 10 | 8 |
| Kyoto University | Japan | 11 | 14 |
| Pohang University of Science and Technology | South Korea | 12 | 10 |
| Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) | South Korea | 13 | 13 |
| City University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 14 | 12 |
| University of Science and Technology of China | China | 15 | 15 |
| Fudan University | China | 16 | 16 |
| Nanjing University | China | 17 | 25 |
| Zhejiang University | China | 18 | 19 |
| Hong Kong Polytechnic University | Hong Kong | 19 | 17 |
| Shanghai Jiao Tong University | China | =20 | 18 |
| Yonsei University (Seoul campus) | South Korea | =20 | NR |
| Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology | South Korea | 22 | NR |
| King Abdulaziz University | Saudi Arabia | 23 | 23 |
| Korea University | South Korea | 24 | 20 |
| Tel Aviv University | Israel | 25 | 22 |
| National Taiwan University | Taiwan | 26 | 24 |
| Hebrew University of Jerusalem | Israel | 27 | 21 |
| Osaka University | Japan | 28 | 32 |
| Indian Institute of Science | India | 29 | =27 |
| Tohoku University | Japan | 30 | 26 |
| Koç University | Turkey | 31 | =27 |
| Khalifa University | United Arab Emirates | 32 | NR |
| Tokyo Institute of Technology | Japan | 33 | 30 |
| Sabancı University | Turkey | 34 | =33 |
| Nagoya University | Japan | 35 | 35 |
| National Tsing Hua University | Taiwan | 36 | =33 |
| Babol Noshirvani University of Technology | Iran | 37 | NR |
| Hanyang University | South Korea | 38 | 38 |
| Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology | South Korea | 39 | 31 |
| Kyung Hee University | South Korea | 40 | 36 |
| Technion Israel Institute of Technology | Israel | 41 | 37 |
| National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (Taiwan Tech) | Taiwan | 42 | 41 |
| Sun Yat-sen University | China | 43 | =47 |
| Indian Institute of Technology Bombay | India | 44 | 42 |
| Wuhan University | China | 45 | =49 |
| University of Malaya | Malaysia | 46 | 59 |
| University of Macau | Macao | 47 | =43 |
| Kyushu University | Japan | =48 | 45 |
| National Chiao Tung University | Taiwan | =48 | 39 |
| Chung-Ang University | South Korea | 50 | 60 |
| Bar-Ilan University | Israel | 51 | 68 |
| Qatar University | Qatar | 52 | =77 |
| Tongji University | China | 53 | 61 |
| Bilkent University | Turkey | 54 | 46 |
| Hokkaido University | Japan | =55 | 58 |
| Hong Kong Baptist University | Hong Kong | =55 | =49 |
| Huazhong University of Science and Technology | China | 57 | 65 |
| National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) | Taiwan | 58 | =47 |
| King Saud University | Saudi Arabia | 59 | =56 |
| Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur | India | =60 | 87 |
| Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) | Japan | =60 | 51 |
| Harbin Institute of Technology | China | 62 | =77 |
| University of Tsukuba | Japan | 63 | =56 |
| Tianjin University | China | 64 | 82 |
| Ewha Womans University | South Korea | =65 | 53 |
| Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee | India | =65 | 70 |
| Boğaziçi University | Turkey | 67 | 52 |
| Alfaisal University | Saudi Arabia | =68 | 131-140 |
| Jordan University of Science and Technology | Jordan | =68 | 121-130 |
| Southeast University | China | 70 | =72 |
| United Arab Emirates University | United Arab Emirates | 71 | 83 |
| China Medical University, Taiwan | Taiwan | =72 | 67 |
| Soochow University | China | =72 | =72 |
| National Taiwan Normal University | Taiwan | 74 | 88 |
| American University of Beirut | Lebanon | =75 | 85 |
| Central China Normal University | China | =75 | NR |
| Shandong University | China | =77 | NR |
| University of Ulsan | South Korea | =77 | 66 |
| Quaid-i-azam University | Pakistan | 79 | 121-130 |
| Xiamen University | China | 80 | 86 |
| Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur | India | =81 | 63 |
| South China University of Technology | China | =81 | 96 |
| Fujita Health University | Japan | =83 | NR |
| Sharif University of Technology | Iran | =83 | 71 |
| Taipei Medical University | Taiwan | =83 | 91 |
| Indian Institute of Technology Delhi | India | 86 | =54 |
| Renmin University of China | China | 87 | 75 |
| Amirkabir University of Technology | Iran | 88 | 101-110 |
| East China Normal University | China | 89 | =79 |
| Xi’an Jiaotong University | China | 90 | 81 |
| East China University of Science and Technology | China | =91 | 84 |
| Istanbul Technical University | Turkey | =91 | =79 |
| King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals | Saudi Arabia | =91 | =54 |
| Beihang University | China | 94 | =92 |
| Konkuk University | South Korea | 95 | 141-150 |
| Isfahan University of Technology | Iran | 96 | =92 |
| Mahidol University | Thailand | =97 | 97 |
| Pusan National University | South Korea | =97 | 90 |
| Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) | Malaysia | 99 | 111-120 |
| University of Haifa | Israel | =100 | 111-120 |
| Sejong University | South Korea | =100 | =99 |
| Tezpur University | India | =100 | 131-140 |