Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) is in the 49th place of the London-based education group Quacquarelli Symonds’s (QS) ranking of top 350 universities in the region. Universiti Malaya (UM) is in the 27th spot – up two spots from last year’s ranking while UPM jumped 17 spots to make the current ranking.

In total, 20 Malaysian universities ranked in the list, with five of them placing in the top 100, the Malay Mail Online reported today.

The three remaining universities and their rankings, besides UM and UPM, are Universiti Sains Malaysia (51), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (55) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (63).

The group uses nine indicators i.e. academic reputation, employer reputation and citations per paper among others, to make the list.

Neighbouring Singapore’s National University of Singapore topped the list, with another institution in the island, Nanyang Technological Institute, placing third.

University of Hong Kong placed second in the list for the second year running.