Only one varsity rated excellent

Only one varsity rated excellent
By : Azura Abas
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Saturday/National/2242637/Article

PUTRAJAYA: The report card is in with Universiti Malaya coming tops to earn itself the rating of "excellent" under the Rating System for Malaysian Higher Education.

Four other local institutions of higher learning were rated "very good", namely Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Putra Malaysia in the research intensive university category and Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Mara in the broad-based university category.

The rating system, approved by the Cabinet in 2005, was conducted by a five-member team led by Professor Dr Che Husna Azhari, director of the Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, and co-ordinated by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin, who announced the results yesterday, said the ratings would allow the ministry to gauge the quality and identify the weaknesses and strengths of the universities. "The information gathered from 87 indicators under six main domains will give us an idea as to what needs to be done to improve the quality of universities in this country." The six main domains are the reputation of the academic staff, student selection, research, academic programmes and management."The rating will also allow the university management to focus their efforts on areas that need improvements.

"The universities that were rated as "good" were Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

Universities that earned the "satisfactory" rating are Universiti Teknologi Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Malacca and Universiti Malaysia Pahang.

Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Universiti Darul Iman Malaysia and Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia were not included in the rating exercise because they were too new and did not have sufficient data.Khaled said the ministry would provide help to universities which only earned a rating of "satisfactory".

"The assistance will range from funding to policy. They did not score high because they are still new and have fewer resources compared to the well-established universities which have been around for so long."However, he said a detailed report of the universities would not be made public. Only the universities themselves would know the contents of the report.He said the rating system would also be used to help improve the international ranking of local universities.

In two months' time, Khaled said seven local universities, two of which are private, would know whether they would be taking part in the accelerated programme for excellence to compete with top- ranked universities worldwide."They have drawn up their master plan for the programme. "In two months, you will know who they are."

UM leads in rankings
By SIMRIT KAUR and KAREN CHAPMAN
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/17/nation/21283255&sec=nation

PUTRAJAYA: Universiti Malaya (UM) is the only public higher education institution to obtain a five-star rating in the Rating System for Malaysian Higher Education Institutions 2007 (Setara).
Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said UM came out tops in the research university category in the first-ever local rating system.

A total of 17 public universities were rated and placed in three categories – research, broad-based and specialised.

International Islamic University Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Mara both scored four stars each in the broad-based category, while Universiti Teknologi Malaysia was the only one to receive a three-star rating for specialised universities. No university earned the highest rating – six stars.

“The purpose of Setara is to enable universities to measure their quality and see where they stand in relation to one another,” Mohamed Khaled told a press conference yesterday.
Commenting on the universities' performance, Mohamed Khaled said there was still a lot of room for improvement. However, he added that by knowing their strengths and weaknesses, universities could strive to continuously improve in quality and ultimately, their position in the world rankings.

“We wanted to come up with our own system. Setara is more comprehensive compared to others, which are based more on perception and include things like peer review and employers' perception,'' said Mohamed Khaled referring to the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) World University Rankings.

Setara involves a quantitative survey where data collected is analysed according to six domains – academic staff (25%), students' selectivity (10%), research (15%), academic programmes (25%), resources (15%), and management (10%).

The survey will be carried out once every two years and private higher education institutions may also be included in future.

Last year, the ministry released the results of an academic reputation survey where Universiti Sains Malaysia was named the best overall university.
At the event, Mohamed Khaled also announced that five public and two private higher education institutions had submitted proposals under the accelerated programme for excellence or apex university.

The ministry plans to identify one or two Malaysian institutions as apex universities, which have the greatest potential of being recognised as world class by 2010.