Malaysia’s universities have failed to make it to the Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s ranking of top 500 universities for the eighth year in a row, giving DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang anothe reason to fume.

According to the university’s ‘Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2010' released yesterday, Malaysia is not represented in the rankings unlike neighbouring Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

“T NONE his is the latest proof that the long-talked about higher education reform based on meritocracy and academic excellence is not making much headway,” Lim noted in a statement today.

A long-time critic of the education system, Lim said Malaysia’s exclusion underscores an “economic and nation-building crisis”.

He said it echoes a warning in the New Economic Model draft that the ‘human capital situation in Malaysia is reaching a critical stage’ due to lack of cultivation and retention of talent.

‘Reveal plan, minister’

In the first decade from Independence in 1957, Malaysia could boast of one internationally-recognised premier university. Lim asked the authorities when this era will be restored.

He u khaled nordin rged Higher Education Minister Khaled Nordin (right) to present the government’s blueprint on enhancing academic excellence at the universities.

According to the ARWU ranking, the top four slots are occupied by US universities Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford and Michigan Institute of Technology, followed by Britain’s Cambridge University.

Critics have pointed out Malaysia’s slide in various university rankings over the past few years, in particular, the global top 200 university rankings by the UK’s Times Higher Education Supplement.

The ranking system was changed last year, and four Malaysian tertiary institutions entered the list of top 200 Asian universities.