Local varsities not ready for Times ranking, says Khaled
It will take up to eight years before Malaysian universities can hope to make the cut in the Time Higher Education (THE) top 400 ranking of global universities, Higher Education Minister Mohd Khaled Nordin says.
It will take up to eight years before Malaysian universities can hope to make the cut in the Time Higher Education (THE) top 400 ranking of global universities, Higher Education Minister Mohd Khaled Nordin says.
Malaysian universities did not participate in the THE rankings study as research - which accounts for 92.5 percent of the judging criteria - was still at the nascent stage in local higher learning institutes, he said.
"This needs time to mature. When you push research, it requires a lot of funds and you need to publish your findings and get a lot of citations," Khaled told a press conference after the National Academic Awards ceremony at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur today.
"Our universities will need another seven to eight years before we reach the stage where we can be at that level.
"It is not because we were measured and we fell short (on the rankings). You can launch simple research, but if nobody cites your work, then what's the point?"
Khaled was asked to comment on the recently released THE rankings, where no Malaysian higher learning institute made the cut.
The THE rankings came on the heels of the QS 200 World University Rankings 2011/12, which put Universiti Malaya at 167th position, 40 spots up from its 2010 ranking.
Our strength is in teaching and learning
However, four other universities - Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) - slid down the QS rankings.
Khaled said THE and QS used different sets of criteria to evaluate universities and he noted that the two rankings were done separately for the first time last year.
He said Malaysian universities have their strengths in their more holistic approach to teaching and learning, which corresponded with the QS evaluation criteria for ranking.
To compete with the world's top universities on the THE rankings, Malaysian universities would have to spend hundreds of millions of ringgit to push their research.
"Singapore universities spent between S$800 and S$900 million a year on research... it's not cheap.
"But we can't just pump in all that money on research. What about our teaching and learning, which are our strengths?" Khaled added.
