Malaysian Universities Secure Top Spots in ASEAN Public and Private Rankings

Malaysian universities have become tops in a new ranking of public and private institutions in Asean.

Sunway University and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) lead the AppliedHE Public University Rankings and Private University Rankings for ASEAN, according to the results released on Dec 1.

Among the 10 most highly ranked public universities, four were from Malaysia, namely Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), and Universiti Malaya (sixth and seventh spot) while Universiti Sains Malaysia was at number 10.

Among the private universities, UCSI University and Taylor's University were in third and fourth spots, respectively, with Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur in fifth place. Joining these institutions were varsities from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.

The ranking only includes universities in ASEAN countries that award locally accredited degrees and strongly focus on quality of Teaching and Learning (40%) and Employability (15-20%).

Research, internationalisation, community engagement, and institutional reputation, or brand value, are also included. On the need for separate private and public university rankings, AppliedHE Ranking Advisory Board Chairperson and City University of Hong Kong Secretary to Council and Court Professor Kevin Downing said, "Private universities are different from public universities, and their respective strengths are not adequately highlighted by existing university rankings that combine both types of university."

The rankings were based on a mix of university-submitted and publicly available data.

Universities that submit data have their information audited by AppliedHE, and distribute the AppliedHE Ranking Student Survey to their students.

External data from Google Scholar and Google News were also used, alongside a system of peer nominations, whereby universities could nominate other institutions which they held in high regard.

AppliedHE used estimated or publicly available data for universities that did not submit data.

AppliedHE founder and CEO Mandy Mok said the rankings measure what was most important to students and their parents – the quality of education, and employability.

Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) CEO Prof Datuk Dr Mohammad Shatar Sabran said AppliedHE filled an important need in the global higher education evaluation landscape with a focus on teaching and learning quality, especially employment and future careers.

He said this makes AppliedHE especially relevant to Malaysian students and parents when deciding where to study.

Founded in Singapore, AppliedHE was a globally oriented higher education evaluation and branding company focusing on bridging the gap between higher education and employment.

This article was first published in The Star on 1 December, 2023.