MALAYSIAN UNIVERSITIES LOSING OUT TO THAILAND, INDONESIA AND PHILIPPINES

Malaysian universities losing out to Thailand Indonesia and Philippines

Posted by kasee
Sunday, 16 November 2008 11:53

Malaysia is losing out in the unrelenting battle for international competitiveness among nations, with Malaysian universities even losing out to universities in Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines – something completely unthinkable in the first three decades of our nationhood.
For the second consecutive year, Malaysia had fallen completely out of the list of the world's Top 200 Universities this year in the 2008 Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) - Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings.
The national shame of Malaysia falling completely out of the list of the world's Top 200 Universities this year in the 2008 Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) - Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings is being compounded by the ignominy of Malaysian universities losing out not only to top universities in Singapore, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea but also to other South East Asian nations like Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines.
The 2008 THES-QS rankings should be a "wake-up" call to the Higher Education Minister and the Cabinet of the advanced crisis of higher education in Malaysia, but I have given up hope that the Barisan Nasional government is capable of "waking up"!
For the second consecutive year, there is not only not a single university in the 2008 THES-QS Top 200 Universities list, there is also not a single university in the separate ranking of Top 100 Universities for five subject areas – Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities; Life Sciences and Biomedicine; and Technology.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Malaya (UM) were in the 2006 Ranking, placed No. 185 and 192 respectively. UKM plunged to 309 last year and improved to 250 this year while UM fell to 246 last year improving slightly to 230 this year – but both remain outside the Top 200 Universities ranking.
The government named Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) as the Apex University but it has a dismal international rankings after being included once in the Top 200 Universities list – No. 111 in 2004, No. 326 in 2005, 277 in 2006, No. 307 in 2007 and No. 313 in 2008.
It is both sad and pathetic that our Apex University, the USM, at No. 313 ranking, is not only left far behind in South East Asia by Singapore (National University of Singapore No. 30 and Nanyang Technological University No. 77) but also by Thailand (Chulalongkorn University No. 166), Indonesia (University of Indonesia No. 287) and the Philippines (Ateneo de Manila University No. 254 and University of the Philippines No. 276).
Until last year, Malaysian universities were all ranked well ahead of the Indonesian universities, but in the 2008 THES-QS World Top Universities ranking, Indonesian universities are catching up with Malaysian universities in leaps and bounds.
Malaysia is losing out in the unrelenting battle for international competitiveness among nations, with Malaysian universities even losing out to universities in Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines – something completely unthinkable in the first three decades of our nationhood.
For the second consecutive year, Malaysia had fallen completely out of the list of the world’s Top 200 Universities this year in the 2008 Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) - Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings.
The national shame of Malaysia falling completely out of the list of the world’s Top 200 Universities this year in the 2008 Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) - Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings is being compounded by the ignominy of Malaysian universities losing out not only to top universities in Singapore, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea but also to other South East Asian nations like Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines.
The 2008 THES-QS rankings should be a “wake-up” call to the Higher Education Minister and the Cabinet of the advanced crisis of higher education in Malaysia, but I have given up hope that the Barisan Nasional government is capable of “waking up”!
For the second consecutive year, there is not only not a single university in the 2008 THES-QS Top 200 Universities list, there is also not a single university in the separate ranking of Top 100 Universities for five subject areas – Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities; Life Sciences and Biomedicine; and Technology.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Malaya (UM) were in the 2006 Ranking, placed No. 185 and 192 respectively. UKM plunged to 309 last year and improved to 250 this year while UM fell to 246 last year improving slightly to 230 this year – but both remain outside the Top 200 Universities ranking.
The government named Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) as the Apex University but it has a dismal international rankings after being included once in the Top 200 Universities list – No. 111 in 2004, No. 326 in 2005, 277 in 2006, No. 307 in 2007 and No. 313 in 2008.
It is both sad and pathetic that our Apex University, the USM, at No. 313 ranking, is not only left far behind in South East Asia by Singapore (National University of Singapore No. 30 and Nanyang Technological University No. 77) but also by Thailand (Chulalongkorn University No. 166), Indonesia (University of Indonesia No. 287) and the Philippines (Ateneo de Manila University No. 254 and University of the Philippines No. 276).
Until last year, Malaysian universities were all ranked well ahead of the Indonesian universities, but in the 2008 THES-QS World Top Universities ranking, Indonesian universities are catching up with Malaysian universities in leaps and bounds.
Last year for instance, the three top Indonesian universities were all ranked behind the Malaysian universities – University of Indonesia (UI) No. 395, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) No. 369 and Gajah Mada University (UGM) No. 360, as compared to the three top Malaysian universities University of Malaya (UM) No. 246, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) No. 307 and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) No. 309.
In this year’s ranking, University of Indonesia has improved by 108 placings to be ranked as No. 287, Bandung Institute of Technology No. 315 and Gajah Mada University No. 316.This means that in the 2008 THES-QS Ranking, University of Indonesia (No. 287) has narrowed the gap with University of Malaya (No. 230) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (No. 250), while ahead of Malaysia’s apex university, Universiti Sains Malaysia (No. 313), University Putra Malaysia (No. 320) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (No. 356).
The performance of Malaysian universities in the 2008 THES-QS Top 100 lists for the five subject areas are even more dismal, with not a single university making into the five lists for two years consecutively although Malaysia secured four of these 500 prestigious slots in 2006 - University of Malaya was ranked 49 in Social Sciences and 95 in Natural Sciences, UKM was placed No. 62 in Natural Sciences, and University Sains Malaysia placed No. 96 for Life Sciences and Biomedicine.
For the 2008 THES-QS ranking, National University of Singapore (NUS) (No. 30) is ranked among the Top 100 Universities for all the five categories while Nanyang Technological University (NTU) (No. 77) is ranked among the Top 100 universities for three categories, viz: Technology (No. 26); Life Sciences & Biomedicine (No. 78) and Social Sciences (No.89).
NUS is ranked No. 11 for Technology; No. 17 for Life Sciences and Biomedicine, No. 31 for Natural Sciences; No. 18 for Social Sciences and No. 30 for Arts & Humanities.
NTU is ranked No. 25 for Engineering & IT; No. 99 for Natural Sciences and No. 88 for Social Sciences.
Even Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University is rated among the Top 100 Universities for two categories – Technology (No. 86) and Social Sciences (No. 72); Indonesia’s Bandung Institute of Technology rated as among the Top 100 universities for Technology (No. 90) and two universities in Philippines ranked among the Top 100 Universities for Arts and Humanities - Ateneo de Manila University (No. 79) and University of the Philippines (No. 82).
After being placed in four of the 500 slots in the five Top 100 Universities for the five subjects in 2006, Malaysian universities has been conspicuously missing fromall the five listings of Top 100 Universities for the five categories for the past two years.
There are over 30 “elite of elite” universities, which are not only ranked in the Top 200 Universities list, but also ranked in every one of the five Top 100 subject list.
Universities in the Asia-Pacific region which are in this exclusive “elite of elites” list are:
(Ranking in Top 200 Universities in bracket)
Australia
ANU (16)Sydney U (37)Melbourne U (38)Queensland U (43)New South Wales U (45)Monash U (47)
Japan
Tokyo U (19)
Hong Kong
Hong Kong U (26)
Singapore
National University of Singapore (30)
China
Peking U (50)Tsinghua U (56)
South Korea
Seoul National U (50)
Why is Malaysia not in this “elite of elites” listing and when will Malaysia have a university which will have all-round excellence as to be included in this list?
Speech at the Tawau DAP Thousand-People “Towards A New Era” dinner at Lau Gek Poh Memorial Hall, Tawau on Saturday, 15th November 2008 at 9 pm)
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This entry was posted on Sunday, November 16th, 2008 (10 hours ago) at 08: 05.42 (10 hours ago) and is filed under Education, university. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
33 Responses to “Malaysian universities losing out to Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines”
1. Bigjoe Says: Today at 08: 57.50 (9 hours ago)
Ah! But 10 years from now, we will still be better than University of Zimbabwe, university of Sudan AND university of Taliban!!!
2. tpk203 Says: Today at 09: 00.45 (9 hours ago)
We don’t care about how the world looks at us. We just want to be “syiok sendiri”! The old education system is rotting.
3. tpk203 Says: Today at 09: 01.59 (9 hours ago)
Sorry, I mean the “whole” education system.
4. madmix Says: Today at 09: 26.50 (9 hours ago)
Eh who says our unis no standard. Look at the large number of gold medals won by our Professor datuk doctors at numerous expos all over Europe. Even MIT, Oxford and Cambridge kalah!
5. max2811 Says: Today at 09: 42.07 (8 hours ago)
UMNO doesn’t care if Msian unis aren’t ranked at all. They keep putting lesser-qualified students to be tutored by under-qualified lecturers. Don’t complain too much, Mr Lim. Or you will find yourself arrested for insulting the social contract and put under ISA.
Let the country rot. Rot until they come to the better part of the citizens for help. Till they willingly forego their grasp on the country’s coffers. Till the day they say we are all Msians from the bottom of their hearts.
6. ktteokt Says: Today at 09: 55.41 (8 hours ago)
Like I have been saying all along, it takes one community to admit “inferiority” if another community wants to achieve “superiority”! This Ketuanan stuff is bogging their heads and if they still want to maintain this type of attitude, thinking they are more “superior”, then Malaysia is DOOMED forever!
Couldn’t they see that despite providing all these advantages to the Bumiputras, the non-Bumiputras have still thrived on and became more prosperous all these years since the implementation of the NEP? They should ask themselves how the non-Bumis did it and then turn to ask themselves again why the Bumis cannot! Like the saying goes, “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going”. This is exactly what the Chinese have done. A famous Chinese saying, “Suffer the greatest sufferings so that one may become a man of man”.
In fact, looking at my argument above, by maintaining the NEP and prolonging it, will be suicidal for the Bumis. Whilst the non-Bumis advance under such unfavourable conditions, the Bumis themselves would deteriorate relatively! By offering them all the perks and special concessions, they have grown to become jellyfishes and parasites and unless Malaysia is ready to close its doors to the international community, these people will never make it in the global scene! How can they compete with others in the open market when they have been provided with “handicap” all along?????
7. Cinapek Says: Today at 10: 27.14 (8 hours ago)
“Apex University” is a “shiok sendiri” label awarded much like many of the honorary doctorates dished out by the local univerisites to dubious recipients. Because they could not get genuine recognition elsewhere, they create such awards as self consolation.
All these continous denial of the THES ranking by the relevant authorities as being relevant to Malaysia is not going to bring the rankings up. Similar to their mindset to create the matriculation as equal to the STPM as another standard for university entrance in Malaysia when they fail to compete, they created the APEX label to satisfy thier bruised egos of being ranked lower and lower year by year.
I have an interesting observation of Gajah Mada university. In the late seventies, a bumi colleague took his HSC (the forerunner of the STPM) and his results were not good enough to be accepted by any of the local Malaysian universties, whose international standings were then unquestionable. But he got himself accepted into Gajah Mada to do medicine. If such a university could now rank near to the Malaysian universities, it speaks volumes how much their quality has fallen.
8. kowtim Says: Today at 10: 54.45 (7 hours ago)
Never Mind, we have the best UPSR, PMR, SPM and STP results every year. Last year one bloke had 21 distinctions and this year it will be 25. WHo said we are regressing. Our target is to win all the Nobel Prizes by 2020, after all we have th emost professors per capital.
9. Godfather Says: Today at 11: 17.51 (7 hours ago)
Aren’t we represented in the Top 300 ? C’mon Kit, be fair. We are ranked ahead of University Burkina Faso.
10. monsterball Says: Today at 11: 29.44 (7 hours ago)
When you have a government…putting out low class…yes man/woman chancellors….to make UMNO look smart…and not choose the smartest to be chancellors..what do you expect?Just look at those crooks..dressed up with false titles..with no shame at all..designed to fool the public..and belittle Malaysians.Such kind of mentalities…such kind of hypocrites…such blatant crooks…..keep playing race and religion politics…..everything and anything…will be mismanaged by them.The problem is….their race and religion politics…still alive and ruling.So…vote them out…or be prepared for being worst than Vietnam and Cambodia soon.
11. monsterball Says: Today at 11: 36.22 (6 hours ago)
UMNO knows they are loosing Malaysians confidences.So here comes few corrections and goodies….to try win back votes.Just look back..more than 50 years….and they are talking like Malaysia was formed…..25 years ago.Worst of all…they never admit their mistakes..keep denying…denying.If next election…UMNO still rule…then Malaysians deserve to be disunited….unhappy… and disloyal.YOU ASKED FOR IT!!
12. Godfather Says: Today at 11: 43.50 (6 hours ago)
It wasn’t that long ago that life in Bolehland was so much more peaceful, without any pressure from externalities, and without any competition.
Then your ancestors came, and everything changed. Your ancestors came from India, China, Arabia and Indonesia and they started introducing the concept of competition. Your ancestors married local lasses, and claimed to represent all the locals.
We yearn for the old days where we could all squat under a coconut tree in the kampung, smoke our hand-rolled cheroot, discuss who would marry as No. 1, or No. 2 or No. 3 or No. 4. Now you folks want to push us into the fast lane and compete against our neighbours. Heck, this concept is so alien !
13. pathfinder Says: Today at 12: 11.58 (6 hours ago)
We must preserved our standards. Without doubt we are glad that USM and UM is still the top two University in the country. Even with the direct competition of the local Nottingham U, University colleges. They are nowhere to be seen in the Malaysian list. But we must be very careful not to include in those other foreign Univ. Because their sylabus is not local, therefore no doubt we are still better then them. One day if they become officially better we must either nationalised them or close them down. We can’t let those Universities better than us.
14. madmix Says: Today at 12: 31.58 (6 hours ago)
We have the best universities in the world; why? because we have the best professors. Where else in the world can you find almost every professor is held in high regard and recognized by every state and central government and accorded a datukship or tan sri title. That means they must be very good. Even Professor Stephen Hawking does not have a knighthood from QE2. Maybe we should give him one: tan Sri professor Datuk Doctor Stephen hawking. Sound good eh?
15. pulau_sibu Says: Today at 12: 53.21 (5 hours ago)
> datukship or tan sri title
it is quite likely datuk and tan sri are no longer good enough. all the professors have to be given boleh-nobel prize
16. katdog Says: Today at 13: 02.56 (5 hours ago)
Education is a key cornerstone in the advancement of any society or civilization.
Given that, what are PR’s plan’s and policies on education?
I have seen Penang put up road signs in other languages. Hmm.. doesn’t help education in the slightest. Perak wants to build a new airport. Oh yeah and they want to rename Jalan Silibin to honour a former DAP political secretary. Hmmm.. nope, doesn’t really help education as well.
So any direction from PR what they intend to do regarding education for the next 5 years? Or just keep blaming the federal government?
17. paix Says: Today at 13: 24.58 (5 hours ago)
All this can be summed up in four words - garbage in garbage out.
18. yellowkingdom Says: Today at 13: 43.57 (4 hours ago)
Not unless the government is willing to accept highly-qualified non-Bumiputera Vice-Chancellors to lead these Malaysian universities, we will ontinue to slide down the abyss of ignominy. See how shallow-minded are our government leaders and champions of communal interests react to the appointment of non-Bumi to a S’gor state development company. Unless we can accept a man for the strength of his character rather than the colour of his skin.
19. calvin_ngan Says: Today at 13: 44.46 (4 hours ago)
@katdog,
Katdog, you’re right. I’ve stressed, emailed to kit and tony pua on the setting up libraries in pakatan states, university is out of pakatan’s management, so, the best thing kit can do instead of blogging over and over again is to propose ‘a library in each town’ project… only then will the people realize that pakatan is serious about education, but my advise was not taken seriously after all these years, it won’t cost much, pour in some money, as the people to donate their unwanted books… this is a step towards better education, for the poor as well when they can’t afford revision books.
Kit, you can’t change the university’s management, the least pakatan can do is to provide well equipped libraries in every town. the people will love pakatan, only then will they realized that pakatan is not about justice, peace… its about their children’s education and future. I doubt pakatan will take up this proposal…
20. Richardqed Says: Today at 13: 53.39 (4 hours ago)
University rankings dropping is not about a lack of libraries. If you have actually paid a visit to the libraries in these universities, you will find they are too well-equipped. It is also not about towns/states having or not having libraries or good books in them. To suggest that is totally naive, and if PR were to take up this proposal, they would be stupid.
This is about the education system totally lacking in meritocracy. People get high marks and high grades for being mediocre.
Do not bother trying to set up libraries. Change the bloody government, and then only do the rest.
21. old dad Says: Today at 14: 02.57 (4 hours ago)
Whooo. Surely all our m’sia unversities can’t be that bad uncle kit. At the very least they must be the best masterbating universities in the world!! (defination; masterbation= the art of self pleasure)
22. paperlesshomework Says: Today at 14: 06.44 (4 hours ago)
Hi there everyone …be it Kit or Tony Phua or Pakatan or BN.
We are a small start up with a very big heart :>)
We have spent hundreds of thousands of ringgit to develop a tool and contents that would help everyone in the country be it Malays, Indians or Chinese or Sabahans etc.
Go to my site at http://www.paperlesshomework.com/ and study what we are doing.
We are giving all our contents and tools free to all schools in the country …or the world actually to help rural schools.
Have a look and see , if any of you guys who posted a lot about education is willing to help out. Dont NATO … act!
This project has been approved by the Ministry of Education of Malaysia…and was in the finals of one of the most prestigious contest in the world on ICT4D Stockholm Challenge 2008.
1. Tell all schools in your area or within your jurisdiction to register their schools for free.
2. If you can , help the schools to know how to download or install because we do have lots and lots of school which do not know how …serious
3. If you wish to earn some good income you can too by being our affiliate see http://www.paperlesshomework.com/Yreseller.htm
As for Pakatan…. want to help education… study our system
As for BN want to help …. do so too.
Everyone gains …no one loses. Education is beyond politics.
So if we start young … our UNIs can have better students and better ratings.
regardsAlan ( hi Tony …kee Meng’s dad)and Looi (Kit .. remember me?)
23. chiakchua Says: Today at 14: 21.58 (4 hours ago)
The ‘Malay supremacy’ which leads to the ‘divide and rule’ education policy has resulted all these shit!Its only with PR in governance with ‘Fair, Just, Equal’ Rakyat Economic Agenda that we may have some hope. UMNOputra elites are the culprit, our Malay fellow countrymen need help.
24. BoycottLocalPapers Says: Today at 14: 39.44 (3 hours ago)
I am so very very very happy that Malaysian universities are losing out to Thailand, Indonesia, and Philippines, because I didn’t get the chance to enter local public universities.
20 years ago, my SPM grade 1 was not good enough for local public universities while my Malay friends with Grade 2 were accepted.
Some of my Malay classmates with Grade 1 were given scholarship to study overseas. My SPM wasn’t good enough for diploma course.
Now, I am glad that I was rejected by local U. Working in Singapore really taught me a lot of stuff I couldn’t learn in local Universities.
25. calvin_ngan Says: Today at 14: 57.12 (3 hours ago)
@Richardqed,
with all due respect, i believe pakatan should do what it can within its power, which is in the state government. I too want a change in government, before we can do that, we have to prove to the people pakatan can rule with care.
True, the library in our unis are too well equipped, but why is it not occupied? coz we’re taught from young to shy away from libraries, malls appears to be the favorite destination, on top of that, public libraries in each district is poorly equipped (only in districts, it should be in every town), and the public transport deters people from going there. We need a proper borrowing system, the digital age changed the way we search for books and borrow them, do look into it.
The state gov must do what it can within its power, university and taking over the government is currently out of the question.
26. k1980 Says: Today at 14: 58.26 (3 hours ago)
Dontcha worry. Next year, Malaysian universities will be losing out to universities in Burkina Faso, Haiti, Somalia, East Timur and the like. They will be placed in the world’s Bottom 200 Universities where the grads can’t even string a complete sentence in simple English. And they will keep on getting gold medals from the Education Minister
27. aje Says: Today at 14: 59.51 (3 hours ago)
To tell you the truth,Malaysian universities will NEVER EVER overtake NUS or NTU in a long time to come.You know why?It is simple.Firstly their medium of instruction is in English.Secondly entry is solely based on MERIT not race or needs.For your info ,for news I always watch Channelnews asia or SBC 5.Good luck Malaysian u.
28. propheticsam Says: Today at 15: 13.53 (3 hours ago)
The rot starts right from primary and secondary schools.Twenty years ago, half of the students I taught in lower secondary managed to score at least 50 marks for a pass. Nowadays you will be lucky if 25% can manage that. Yet so many of these underachievers get selected to our locals universities. Meritocracy? That’s a laugh.To me the whole education system is rotten to the core. A complete overhaul from the bottom up is needed before we can hold our heads high again.Even if we start now it will at least be a decade before we can undo the damage done.
29. ngahc Says: Today at 15: 15.26 (3 hours ago)
What is the point of sending our children to local u? Think carefully.
30. oedipus Says: Today at 15: 26.10 (3 hours ago)
i hope pakatan takes over the government and overhaul the whole education system in this country. the current flip flop government changes education minister every 5 years and its no wonder why certain well thought out policies and plans are never carried onto fruition.
i hope if EVER the pakatan takes over in the future, just assign 1 minister on a long term basis to overhaul the system. i think uncle lim, seem to have a burden on your heart for the children and future of Malaysia?
31. Loh Says: Today at 15: 42.50 (2 hours ago)
///Malaysia is losing out in the unrelenting battle for international competitiveness among nations, with Malaysian universities even losing out to universities in Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines – something completely unthinkable in the first three decades of our nationhood.///– Kit
These countries did not have to be bothered to improve the standing of their universities they beat Malaysia flat. The reason is they dio not have NEP in their countries. Unless NEP is removed, there is no way the government can do the wrong thing and hope to achieve the right results.
32. ryan123 Says: Today at 17: 33.24 (1 hour ago)
Will the UMNOputra see this as a threats? No, they would rather have a fortress to defend their own interests, rather than opting for excellency which will jeopardize their racist policies which gain them popularity votes. Why bother since kerismuddin’s son is even studying in an international school?
After years of plunging down in ranks, the minister has changed their tone that “We will try to improve to fulfill the judging criteria of THES ranking, but THES ranking itself has too much flaws. So, do not blame if we are not doing good.”
See their way of diverting the responsibilities?
33. k1980 Says: Today at 18: 09.56 (25 minutes ago)
THES ranking itself has too much flaws– the main flaw being that Malaysia universities are not allowed to have 30% allocations in the top 200 rankings, as imperative under the NEP. Once that flaw is overcome, 30% x 200 = 60 Malaysian universities will be in the THES top 200. The remaining 140 places can go to the rest of the world