Malaysia - Universities - Not ready for rankings

THERE were no Malaysian public universities in the top 200 of the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2011-12 this year but this is probably due to the fact that several chose not to take part.

THE World University Rankings editor Phil Baty urged universities to take part to assess their performance on a global stage as Malaysia has great potential as a major hub for international higher education, and needs to be a visible part of a rapidly globalising sector.

“We do not rank universities against their will, but we urge them to take part voluntarily,” he told StarEducate.

However, Baty declined to name the Malaysian universities involved.

Universiti Malaya vice-chancellor Prof Tan Sri Dr Ghauth Jasmon acknowleged that the university did not participate in the THE rankings.

“We made the decision not to take part in the THE two years ago as we feel we can only do so in about eight years when our income base has grown bigger from the private projects we are working on now such as the health metropolis and genome centre,” he explained.

He claimed that some of the criteria used such as funding and citations were unfair.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia vice-chancellor Prof Tan Sri Dr Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin said the university is improving and the results will show in a few years.

“It may be true that some chose not to send data but even if we did, I don’t think we can make it to the top 200 list.

“University and research cannot be separated. We must acknowledge that research is important and comparative research data must be given serious attention if we aspire to be in the league of renowned research universities of the world,” she said.

Baty said a few changes were made to one or two elements of the rankings methodology following feedback from industry experts after last year’s tables were published. One new indicator has been added regarding internationally co-authored papers, in order to better reflect the importance of a university’s global outlook.

“The rankings have been engineered to be more sophisticated, transparent, rigorous and reliable.

“As with last year, 13 indicators across five areas are taken into account, and our world rankings examines all core missions of a modern global university – research, teaching, knowledge transfer and international activity,” he explained.

“While hundreds of universities all over the world volunteer their data so that they can take part in this important global benchmarking exercise, it is disappointing that several Malaysian institutions chose not to take part.

“Of course, these rankings focus on the global, research-intensive university, and can not always take account of specific local circumstances, but our reputation survey is representative of scholarship all over the world, and we apply our 13 indicators fairly and consistently across all borders.

The THE World University Rankings 2011-12 is an annual rankings which provide a list of the world’s top 200 universities and was announced on Oct 6 with California Institute of Technology topping the list. This was followed by Harvard University and Stanford University in second place, Oxford University, Princeton University, Cambridge University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Imperial College London, Chicago University and the University of California, Berkeley in 10th place.

The highest ranked Asian institutions are Tokyo University at 30, Hong Kong University (34), the National University of Singapore (40), Peking University (49), Kyoto University (52), Pohang University of Science and Technology (53), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (62), Tsinghua University (71) and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (94).

Baty said results for Asian institutions have been mixed this year although there was an improvement for some institutions in several regions, such as Japan, but many Asian institutions have also moved down the rankings.

For example, Hong Kong University has lost its position as first in Asia with Tokyo University taking its place.

“There have been a considerable number of new entrants to the rankings this year, with more universities around the world submitting their data and joining the project, and, combined with a few methodological enhancements made by us for 2011, this explains the degree of movement in the Asian tables,” he said.

On how Malaysian universities could improve, he said the rankings placed importance on both excellent research and teaching at an institution.

The most prominent indicator is of research influence — using research paper citations to see how much each institution is contributing to the global body of knowledge, how much each is producing new ideas and discoveries, though publishing research that is picked up and shared by other academics, all over the world.

“This needs focus on the research environment, and most often, resources — money is needed to attract and retain the best academic brains, and to develop the facilities needed for cutting edge research.

“But we also value the teaching environment in our rankings, where, again, resources matter,” he explained.

However, he added, there is no hard and fast rule for doing well as an institution — the magic formula seems to involve generous resources (whether public or private), a research-rich teaching environment, academic freedom and institutional autonomy.

Baty argued that beyond some basic entry requirements (universities must teach at both undergraduate and doctoral levels, provide a range of courses and publish more than 200 research papers a year), the rankings make no judgement on the optimal size, shape and structure of a university.

“We see that the Malaysian universities in our database both have slightly below average scores for ‘international outlook’, which looks at a university’s ability to attract international staff and students, and the volume of its international research collaboration.

“Funding indicators are also slightly below average, suggesting that Malaysia could benefit from more investment,” he said.

By KAREN CHAPMAN

educate@thestar.com.my

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