UM out to improve teaching quality

UNIVERSITI Malaya (UM), delighted with its good performance in this year’s Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) rankings by subjects, says this will spur it to further improve its quality of teaching and education.

Saying UM “will not rest on its laurels”, vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Amin Jalaludin said while the university was committed to improving its ranking, it was not the sole priority.

“Ranking is only one of the many factors considered in our long-term goal to strengthen the fundamentals of the university,” he stressed.

UM had improved in terms of the number of subjects being ranked among the top 200, as well as in terms of the rankings of the subjects.

UM will not ‘rest on its laurels’ says Prof Mohd Amin.

“The ranking of UM by subject has generally improved in 2015 compared to the achievements in 2014,” said Prof Mohd Amin.

This year’s ranking has seen seven subjects ranked in the top 100, compared with six last year.

The six subjects that were ranked in the (51-100) category were Architecture/Built Environment, English Language and Literature, Linguistics (Arts & Humanities), Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering (Engineering & Technology).

Also, for the first time, UM was featured in the top 50 in this ranking with Development Studies (Social Sciences & Management) being ranked at 32.

Another significant improvement in this year’s rankings is that 19 subjects were ranked in the top 200 in 2015, compared with 14 subjects in 2014.

“UM cannot ignore the fact that universities seeking to advance themselves often benchmark their performance against the top performers in the ranking lists,” said Prof Mohd Amin.

“This is because the standard of a university is mapped by its ranking in the league of the world’s top universities, despite the criticisms against the rankings system,’’ he added.

He said UM’s priorities was to build an international reputation for the university in research, innovation and teaching, and the capacity to make contributions to the community, society and nation.

“In our drive to achieve these goals, the university will seek to be more competitive so that our rankings will also improve progressively.

“At the same time, UM will also harmonise its strategic plan by taking cognisance of the 10 shifts documented in the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 (Higher Education) to meet the aspirations of the nation,” he added.