University Putra Malaysia (UPM) is now in 17th place, up from 38th, to become the nation’s best young university.
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) is placed at 25, Universiti Kebangsan Malaysia (UKM) is at 26, and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is at 33. Of these, USM is the only one to have dropped down the rankings – from 26th to 33rd.
According to a report in the New Straits Times, universities with a heavy technology and science focus dominate the upper rankings this year, with six technological universities among the top 10.
Nanyang Technological University has been ranked number 1. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is the second best young university in the world. Taking third spot is Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
QS’s head of research Ben Sowter said: “The rankings suggest that young universities focused on strong STEM-based research programmes stand the best chance of disrupting any established global elite.”
The QS University Rankings: Top 50 Under 50 list aims to identify which of these young universities might disrupt or have disrupted the global elite universities.
The latest rankings indicate that Asia and Australia dominate in this category. Sixteen of the 50 are Asian universities while a fifth of the universities on the list are from Australia. Spain has five universities on the list, Malaysia and Hong Kong have four each.