Eight Malaysian universities have entered into the top 200 list in an international ranking that judges based on 30 disciplines, making it two more universities than last year.

According to the rankings made by QS World University Rankings by subject, Malaysian universities show their strength better when ranked by academic disciplines rather than as overall institutions.

“These rankings demonstrate that Malaysian universities are operating at an increasingly higher high level within a range of academic disciplines,” QS head of research Ben Sowter said in a press statement.

“Through taking a more targeted approach to ranking universities, we have been able to pick up on the particular strengths of Malaysian institutions much more effectively than is possible in overall institutional rankings.”

The new entries are Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) and Multimedia University (MMU), which ranked at the bottom quarter of the top 200 for chemical engineering and computer science respectively.

Universiti Malaya (UM) had the most positions, making it into the top 100 in six of the 30 disciplines - including modern languages, computer science and information systems, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and education.

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) had the highest single ranking among the country’s universities.

"It is the only Malaysian university to make it to the top 50, ranking 28th in environmental sciences," said a summary of the QS survey.

QS rankings among the most trusted

The annual rankings of the world's top 800 universities by QS World University Rankings are said to be one of the most trusted.

However, in the 2013-14 World University Rankings, UM was the only Malaysian university that charted in the top 200, but slipped to 167th position from 156 in the previous year.

Besides Malaysia, the latest QS survey said that Asian universities generally ranked high and were serious contenders for the world's best.

It noted that the National University of Singapore made it into the global top 10 in all five of the engineering and technology disciplines, while Hong Kong accounted for three of the top 20 institutions for computer science.

Globally, Harvard remains the best all-round institution, ranking first in 11 of the 30 disciplines, two more than its local rival MIT.

 

The rankings are based on research citations, alongside reputed surveys of more than 90,000 academicians and graduate employers worldwide.