“Once again, our universities have proven that they are improving or ‘Soaring Upwards’ (ministry slogan),” he said in a statement yesterday.
The three subjects from local universities which have been included in the world’s best 50 category are the Development Studies Programme (Universiti Malaya) at 30th place, Electric and Electronic Engineering (Universiti Malaya) at 37th place and Chemical Engineering (Universiti Sains Malaysia) at number 46.
Idris said the achievement was proof of the hard work, commitment and dedication of the lecturers and researchers, as well as the higher education community.
“Of course, the efforts do not end here and I urge all universities to continue improving their research findings and teaching methods.
“I always say that the world ranking is important as a benchmark of the global status of the country’s education system, but it is not everything.
“I hope this will have a meaningful, positive and permanent impact on the local and international community,” he said.
According to the 2016 QS World University Rankings: By Subject, 26 subjects from Universiti Malaya were listed in the top 300, while Universiti Sains Malaysia had 22; Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (20); Universiti Putra Malaysia (19); Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (12); Universiti Teknologi Mara (5); Universiti Teknologi Petronas (4); Universiti Multimedia Malaysia (2); Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (2); and Universiti Utara Malaysia and Universiti Malaysia Sabah with one each.
Meanwhile, Universiti Teknologi Mara vice-chancellor Prof Emeritus Hassan Said, in a statement, said five out of 35 subjects offered at the university were listed in the 300 best subjects in the world.
He said the subjects were accounting and finance, education, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, as well as computer science and information system.
“All these subjects were listed based on academic performance; students’ and lecturers’ reputations; and the number of citations of an article for a period of five years from Scopus Index and H Index,” he said.
Hassan said through a specific strategy and selected target setting, UiTM was expected to further improve its position in the future.
– BERNAMA