JOHOR BAHRU, 21 September 2016 – Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) was one of the four Malaysian universities that were listed in the world’s top 50 best universities under 50 years of age in the latest QS Quacquarelli Symonds World University rankings of 2016/2017.
Besides UTM, the three others were Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) where each of these institutions had raised from their past ranking.
UTM is currently 25th among the top 50 World’s Best Universities while UPM improved its rank from 38th to 17th to become the highest ranked in this country. The other three namely UKM rises from 32nd to 26th and USM is now ranked 33rd, slipping from 26th position.
Universities with a heavy tech or STEM focus dominate the upper regions of the rankings this year, with six technological universities among the top 10.
Nanyang Technological University (NTU) from Singapore was ranked the world’s best young university followed by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), City University of Hong Kong, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Maastricht University, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona and University of Antwerp.
QS’s Head of Research, Ben Sowter said the rankings suggest that young universities focused on strong Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) based research programmes stand the best chance of disrupting any established global elite.
“The QS University Rankings for the Top 50 Under 50 list was designed to emphasise the potential and excellence of universities without decades or centuries of established reputation, and to identify which of them might disrupt or indeed have already disrupted the global elite,” said Ben Sowter.
The 2016/17 ranking indicates that Asia and Australia are home to the world’s strongest recently-formed institutions.
Sixteen of the 50 available places go to Asian institutions, while Australia is the most-featured nation on the ranking, with its young universities taking a fifth of the available places. Among other countries, Spain has five universities in the list, Malaysia and Hong Kong have four each, while Taiwan and South Korea have three each.
Two more Malaysian universities are also represented in the ranking, namely the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and the Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), both in the 91-100 band. UTP is a new entry this year.
