Malaysia's often criticised education system could be the best in the world, 30 to 40 years from now, the government said.

Education Minister II Idris Jusoh said Malaysia has already surpassed Singapore in terms of publications in scientific journals, and so, it is not impossible that Malaysia could overtake them in terms of university rankings.

“In 30 to 40 years we could overcome (Singapore), we could be the best in the world,” Idris ( photo ) told the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was responding to a question from Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Gelang Patah) on Malaysia's ranking in an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) education survey , which placed Malaysia in 52nd spot out of 76 countries.

Idris however said this ranking was based on the old Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) data from 2012.

“It is not fair to judge our education system from 2012 data. […] We have taken a new Pisa test last year and the results should be out next year,” he said.

Earlier he also listed out Malaysia's rankings in fields of studies, which place several local universities among the top 100 in the world.

This includes Universiti Malaya (UM) ranking 32nd in Development Studies, and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) ranking 31st in Environmental Sciences.