LETTERS: The quality of our higher education is at an excellent level as all local research universities are in the top 40 in Asia.
The rankings by Quacquarelli-Symonds: Asia 2022 are based on several criteria, including high-impact journal production, research, academic reputation and marketability of graduates.
Apart from Universiti Malaya, which is in eighth place, four other local research universities are in the top 40 in Asia.
Universiti Putra Malaysia ranked 27th, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia ranked 33rd, Universiti Sains Malaysia ranked 35th and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia ranked 38th.
Every year, universities in Malaysia perform well, and are improving their position.
Taylor's University jumped from 89th to 53rd, UCSI University from 105th to 50th, while Universiti Utara Malaysia climbed from 107th to 98th.
Several universities, apart from in the top 200, also improved their position, including Universiti Teknologi Mara (108th to 105th), Universiti Malaysia Pahang (133rd to 129th), Uniten (168th to 144th), Sunway University (172nd to 121st) and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (195th to 167th).
When the quality of higher education is good at the global level, it will attract students to study here, in line with the Higher Education Ministry's target to attract 250,000 international students.
As the agency responsible for overseeing the quality assurance of higher education, MQA is committed to further improving the image of Malaysian higher education.
We worked hard to help higher education institutions as facilitators, especially programme accreditation.
We increased the latest information-sharing sessions on MQA's initiatives with higher education institutions and the community through Facebook and YouTube, MQA tour sessions to higher education institutions, Hari Mesra Pelanggan and the Bicara Minda programme.
To promote the lifelong learning agenda, we continued the Accreditation of Prior Learning Experience
(APEL) initiative and, most recently, awarded academic qualifications.
An APEL for Academic Qualification Awards, which recognises individual learning through previous experience, will be launched soon.
Through the MQA Global initiative, we have established collaborations and memoranda of understanding with foreign accreditation agencies to ensure that Malaysia remains on the right track to becoming a global higher education hub.
PROFESSOR DATUK DR MOHAMMAD SHATAR SABRAN
CEO, Malaysian Qualifications Agency
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times