HIGHER Education Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir announced proudly that Malaysian universities have reached world-class status.
According to him, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) was placed fifth while Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) came out seventh in the order of merit in the recent survey of 1,600 global universities.
The survey based on contributions to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was conducted by the Times Higher Education (THE) global rankings of universities.
While Malaysians should be proud of the academic achievements of USM and UKM, it is unclear if the criteria used by THE in the academic evaluation of universities are beyond dispute.
THE has often been criticised for using academic criteria that are biased in favour of well-established universities.
At the same time, depending on the criteria used, obscure universities can rise to the top of the rankings.
Universities that are known for their excellent undergraduate teaching programmes often receive lower rankings.
Moreover, THE has the tendency to elevate universities in the English-speaking world. Research and excellence are determined by existing academic cartels that focus on publications in certain journals as well as the nature of research and publication outputs.
Universities in the non-English-speaking world do not receive the same scores as universities in the English-speaking world.
The World University Rankings 2026 have just been published.
The performance of Asia’s top universities has stalled for the first time in 14 years, while the US continues to decline.
Analysis of the results: https://t.co/FldnUjPV1W #THEUniRankings pic.twitter.com/v0s6ec4ErV
— Times Higher Education (@timeshighered) October 8, 2025
A university with a strong reputation for academic excellence and teaching might lose out to relatively obscure universities because of the criteria used.
For example, universities in China might have excellent teaching programmes but could lose out to universities in Africa or Indonesia.
THE rankings are merely indications of the standing of universities, all depending on the criteria employed.
There is no universal definition of accepted criteria in determining the rankings of global universities.
Just because USM and UKM were ranked fifth and seventh in the THE survey does not suggest that they are qualitatively better than all other universities across the globe.
I hope Zambry understands the controversial nature of THE rankings. He should not think and act as though USM and UKM are the fifth and seventh best universities in the world.
The Pakatan Harapan (PH)-led ruling coalition is so desperate for publicity that it would go to the extent of clutching at a straw to boost its image.
As a former academician at UKM for 25 years. I shall be the last person to deny that it has a good reputation in certain areas of research and publication.
But at the same time, I am not willing to state that it is the seventh-best university in the world.
Essentially, there are no absolute and objective criteria in the evaluation of universities. It does not mean that universities that receive high rankings in the THE survey are necessarily the most excellent ones.
Conversely, those that do not feature prominently in the rankings are not necessarily substandard institutions.
Zambry who is both an UMNO supreme council member and Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary-general should exercise caution in over-praising the achievements of our local public universities. – June 25, 2026
Former DAP stalwart and Penang deputy chief minister II Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is chairman of the United Rights of Malaysian Party (Urimai) interim council.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
