He said Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Ranking was made based on reports from 75,000 academics and 40,000 employers, 12.3 million publications and 75.1 million citations and analysed from bibliometric database Scopus/Elsevier.
“Since the establishment of the research university 10 years ago, the quality of the universities have improved and show potential to rival other top universities in the world,” he told reporters after speaking at a charity programme by the Puspanita branch of the higher education ministry at Masjid Hadhari in Jertih here today.
Idris refuted claims by some parties on social media that questioned the way QS conducted its ranking and that they were made not adhering to the rules.
“The QS ranking is not something we should argue about because it is issued by those who have no vested interests,” he said.
He said before the QSWUR 2018 was issued, the five universities were already showing an increase in research programmes that had resulted in success.
The universities are Universiti Malaya (UM) at 114, and which was on the verge of breaking into the top 100 universities in the world; Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), which jumped 182 places from 411 to 229; Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) that went up 72 places from 302 to 230; Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) that went up from 355 to 253; and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) that went up from 330 to 264.
Idris also urged parties which had no knowledge on how the QS was conducted to refrain from making any assessment based on assumptions as it would only restrict efforts taken by the ministry and the universities to improve their performances.