15 Malaysian Universities Listed In Asia University Rankings 2021

KUALA LUMPUR, 6.10.2021 – Malaysia has reached a record-breaker of 15 universities that have been qualified for the Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2021.  

Compared to last year, where only eight institutions made it to the list, five out of six of Malaysia’s top universities gained an improvement in their positions.  

Universiti Utama Malaysia (UUM) advanced two bands into the Top 200 for the first time this year, a significant milestone from their placement last year. 

Universiti Kuala Lumpur and Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka also made their first achievement into the 400+ band.  

Meanwhile, Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) moved up 13 spots to 111th place, with Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) maintaining its position at 119th. Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) climbed up nine places to reach 136th, with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) moving up ten places to finish at 150th respectively. 

The deputy vice-chancellor of UKM, Prof Datuk Dr Abdul Wahab Mohammad, expressed his joy over the university’s placement into the Top 150. He stated it was the result of the efforts of all staff and students over the past two years.  

“We restructured the research ecosystem within the university by putting more emphasis on multi-disciplinary research. This way, research becomes more prominent and more academics will start to focus on research,” he said.  

Despite the challenges of the COVID 19 pandemic, Malaysian universities are rising in rankings and progressing well to adapt to the situation at hand.  

Chief knowledge officer of Times Higher Education, Phil Baty, said that these rankings were an important measure of the strength of higher education across the continent.  

“It is great to see a number of Malaysia’s universities improve or maintain their previous positions, despite the growing competitiveness across the region. 

“It will be interesting to see what happens in Malaysia over the coming years and how universities adapt to the post-Covid world,” he added.