KUALA LUMPUR: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) has clinched the 12th spot in the recently released Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Top 50 Under 50 Rankings for 2019, up from 16 last year.
This makes UKM the top Malaysian university in the rankings.
The QS Top 50 Under 50 Rankings highlights the best universities in the world which are under 50 years old, allowing some of the world’s top young universities to shine.
In the rankings, UKM is closely followed by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) at 13th place, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) at 14 and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) at 18.
UKM vice-chancellor Professor Tan Sri Datuk Seri Dr Noor Azlan Ghazali said the university is very proud yet humbled by this best ranking achievement since its establishment in 1970.
Calling it "UKM’s special gift for Malaysia", Noor Azlan said there is a lot more to be achieved and delivered in the years to come, beyond ranking.
“We were motivated by the strong roots of ‘national aspirations’. The University’s excellence must be driven by the right scholarly motives that impact the society. This achievement is a manifestation that we are on the right track,” he said.
It is pivotal, according to Prof Tan Sri Datuk Seri Dr Noor Azlan, that this global ranking is ‘felt’ by all stakeholders which include the rakyat, government, industries and scholarly societies.
“Being relevant to all and clearly visible ‘on the map’ is vital. It takes all of Warga UKM - scholars, students, and administrators to strongly move together,” he said.
He added that UKM will continuously measure itself with global peers without forgoing its national motives.
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore tops the list this year followed by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology.
There are 17 Asian universities in the ranking.