Following the recent debate over Universiti Malaya’s non-participation in the famed Times Higher Education Ranking (THES), I as the coordinator of UM Economics Students’ Secretariat (UMESS) would like to offer my opinion to refute the statements by Lim Kit Siang of DAP and student groups such as Mahasiswa Keadilan Malaysia and Progressive University of Malaya.
Lim has criticised UM for “chickening out” of the Times ranking but instead choose to partake in the QS ranking which is often regarded as “less demanding” compared to the former. What Lim failed to understand is that UM has never walked away from the THES ranking, but rather chose to defer the participation to 2017. This might, in turn create another question. Why must wait until 2017? Why not now?
This decision of non-participation was taken during the leadership of the former vice-chancellor Ghauth Jasmon. To the students of Universiti Malaya and those who know him in person, Ghauth is known for his concern and emphasis on international university rankings. However, he made the controversial decision of non-participation in the Times ranking because of several reasons. Participation in the QS ranking is continued as usual.
The history
Times Higher Education and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) used to jointly produce the rankings known then as Times Higher Education–QS World University Rankings from 2004 until 2009. However, the collaboration was ended in 2010 with QS retaining the intellectual property and the methodology used to evaluate the varsities’ performances. The Times, on the other hand, collaborated with Thomson Reuters, with a different set of methodology.
The Times’ new methodology evaluates certain elements such as research citations in a different approach compared to the QS. Several changes in the methodology are seen as more-inclined to the Western varsities and less considerate on the upcoming universities in the developing countries. For instance, QS looks at the research citations done in the past five years while the Times ranking looks at the past 10 years. So, how does this pose problems to UM?
UM has been receiving research grants from the federal government for years, albeit in small amounts. Significant research grants only came in the last six to seven years, after the research university concept was introduced by the government. With research grants growing many folds, ISI-indexed citations have also increased along the years.
If UM is to participate now, the ranking would be badly affected as the Times looks at the past 10 years and our citations have been minimal before the significant increase in research grants. To the uninitiated, under the Times ranking, citation (research impact) amounts to 32.5 percent of the total score and this can cause a severe upset to UM’s performance.
Many proponents of the Times ranking cite UM’s “extraordinary” achievement in 2004 when it was ranked 89th. This is often used as a reason to reinforce their stand that UM should participate in the Times ranking.
What these people fail to understand is that, it is wrong to equate the ranking in 2004 with the Times ranking now as the 89th rank is prior to the split and the current Times ranking is using a different methodology. QS, however, is using the same methodology as in 2004.
UM was ranked 89th in 2004, 169th in 2005, 192nd in 2006 and 180th in 2009. UM was not even listed in the top 200 for the years 2007 and 2008. Looking at these figures, one could easily feel curious at the 89th ranking in 2004. Actually, UM ‘managed’ to attain the best ranking thus far in 2004 because of technical errors in the submission of data.
To clarify, in the QS-THES ranking of 2004, ethnic minorities (local citizens) in Universiti Malaya were mistakenly counted as international students, thus pushing the score higher and giving UM an incredible ranking. This however, was later rectified in 2005 and this explains the sudden fall to 169th rank in 2005.
To all the critics and student leaders out there, UM has been doing a gradual improvement to its performance with the latest 151st rank as the best so far, apart from the 89th position in 2004. Hopefully, with continuous monitoring and improvements, by 2017, UM can and will take part in the Times ranking for the first time.
With the transformation plan envisaged by the former VC ongoing, hopefully Universiti Malaya can yield a good ranking in the Times Higher Education ranking in 2017.
To the current vice-chancellor, from my observation, critical thinking and general knowledge amongst the students have been deteriorating for quite some time. Hopefully, something can be done quickly, as I believe there is no point in the university churning out ‘four flat zombies’ with no critical thinking capabilities.
GANESHWARAN KANA is a third-year economics undergraduate at Universiti Malaya and blogs at universaltheboss.blogspot.com
