He was responding to Sharifah Munirah Alatas, who accused ranking organisations such as the QS World University Rankings of being businesses seeking to profit from participating universities.

Munirah said while it is not wrong for Malaysian universities to take part in such rankings, they do so without questioning how the rankings affect the way they teach, assign reading materials and set grading systems.

However, Ahmad said her claims do not reflect the government’s stance that rankings are not the ultimate goal, despite being part of the high education ecosystem.

He said higher education minister Zambry Abdul Kadir had noted the importance of rankings in “naturally” encouraging competition, improvement and innovation, as well as a yardstick for universities locally and globally.

“He also said being ranked helps an institution foster collaborative relationships, especially with other burgeoning Asian universities.

“However, he also stressed that his ministry does not want the nation’s higher education ecosystem to be obsessed with numbers and placements,” he said in a statement today.

In a recent panel session, Munirah said the participation of local universities in rankings was tantamount to “wholesale” acceptance of the neoliberal economic system.

She said alternative evaluation mechanisms are needed as rankings worldwide have become nothing but a mere profit-making exercise by the organisations involved.

Munirah also said that although she had previously suggested this to the higher education ministry, nothing had been done.

Ahmad said while Munirah’s criticisms deserved consideration, they remained excessive.

“These are valid concerns about the effect rankings have on teaching and publishing in universities, as well as intellectual freedom.

“However, to say Malaysian universities are unquestioningly participating in the rankings system is excessive,” he said.