PETALING JAYA: Universiti Malaya (UM) remains the nation's best in its overall position out of the 40 Malaysian universities featured in the Quacquarelli-Symonds (QS) World University Rankings: Asia (QS-AUR) 2024.
The latest edition of the ranking sees Malaysia's premier university continues to maintain its top-20 position, ranking 12th this year.
Although it dropped one spot from 2023, it is the national leader in three of QS' indicators, including Academic and Employer Reputation, in which it places 16th and 9th, and International Research Network, placing fourth in this indicator.
Second in the country is Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) which broke into the Top 20.
The research university improved from 25 to 20 this year due to gains in four indicators, including Academic Reputation, International Research Network, Citations per Paper and Outbound Exchange Students.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia is third in Malaysia and 26th in Asia.
Rounding off Malaysia's research universities are Universiti Teknologi Malaysia which climbed nine spots to 28 while Universiti Sains Malaysia dropped two ranks to 37.
Meanwhile, Taylor's University remains Malaysia's highest ranking private institution in the list.
Taylor's University is the national leader, in 40th for the Citations metric.
UCSI University is now ranked 45th in Asia after making a 16-spot climb in the rankings.
Significantly more Malaysian universities rose than dropped in this ranking with 26 climbing the table, 11 dropped while two remain stable in their ranks of bands.
INTI International University sees Malaysia's greatest improvement in this year's ranking, climbing an impressive 52 positions to place 170th, making it the third most improved university in Asia.
Also climbing up was Sunway University from 103 to 74, Management and Science University from 155 to 129 and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman from 160 to 131.
This is driven by gains in nine of QS' indicators, most prominently, in International Research Network.
The nation showed exceptional performance in indicators related to internationalisation, including faculty and students.
Al-Madinah International University is particularly exceptional, placing second in Asia in both International Students and International Faculty.
Another four universities placed among the region's top 10 in the International Students metric – SEGi University (5), Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation Malaysia (6), Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (8) and Malaysia University of Science and Technology (9).
This time 65% of Malaysian universities moved up the rankings, more than any other country or territory.
QS senior vice president Ben Sowter said: "Malaysia's rise in the QS rankings reflects a commitment to excellence across key functions of higher education, including research impact and internationalisation.
"This progress supports Malaysia's vision of becoming a high-income, knowledge-based economy driven by technology, innovation, and globalisation," he said in a statement on Wednesday (Nov 6).
China's Peking University maintains its position as top in the region with the University of Hong Kong coming in second.
Third rank goes to National University of Singapore.
The 16th edition of the rankings features 984 institutions from 25 countries and territories, with 149 ranking for the first time.
