PKR's Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar has flayed Education Minister II Idris Jusoh for his "naive logic" in claiming that Malaysia's education system is on par with developed countries around the world due to the large number of foreign students here.

Nurul Izzah said in a statement today that going by Idris' logic, Malaysia should also be considered a developed nation already due to the large influx of foreign workers in the country.

"Idris said that Malaysia is now 9th out of 30,000 universities all over the world that has become an attraction for foreign students," Nurul Izzah added.

"Which university was he talking about, given that Malaysia is not an university?" she asked.

She pointed out that Malaysian universities had fared poorly in the QS World Rankings for varsities, and also that student freedom is - by and large - still lacking in local varsities.

"I want to remind the minister to stop hiding behind meaningless numbers in vague contexts, merely to say that our universities are great," she stressed.