This comes as Malaysia’s premier university dropped six spots last year to 65th, although it is still the only local university in the top 100 – a feat it has now achieved for the fifth consecutive year.

Among the factors used to determine the scores are academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per faculty, faculty student ratio, international research network and employment outcomes.

A record 24 Malaysian institutions of higher education were ranked this year, with most improving their positions.

Universiti Putra Malaysia jumped from 143rd to 123rd while Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia moved from 144th to 129th.

Universiti Sains Malaysia gained four notches from 147th to 143rd, but Universiti Teknologi Malaysia fell from 191st to 203rd.

Meanwhile, Taylor’s was named the No 1 private university in Southeast Asia for the third year in a row, ranking at 284th overall from 332nd last year.

USCI University moved up from 347th to 284th spot, and Universiti Teknologi Petronas from 414th to 361st.

National University of Singapore (NUS) was the leading university in Asia, followed by China’s Peking University and Tsinghua University. They were 11th, 12th and 14th in the overall rankings, respectively.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Cambridge and Stanford University topped the global rankings, with MIT on top for the 11th year running.

This year’s QS World University Rankings is the largest ever, with 1,418 institutions across 100 locations being surveyed, an increase from the 1,300 institutions last year.