UM makes top 200 of THE-QS World University Rankings

University Malaya shot up 50 places to bag the 180th spot on this year's Times Higher Education (THE) – QS World University Rankings, says today's edition of The Star. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia jumped to the 320th spot from 356 last year. However, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Putra Malaysia saw a decline in their rankings.

Good job, UM! Hope you edge us into the top 100 next year.

Read the full story here.

Update: The Times Online writes:

"...improved showings by institutions in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Malaysia.

Philip Altbach, director of the Centre for Higher Education at Boston College in the US, says several factors are behind the surges by Asian institutions.

"These countries have invested heavily in higher education in recent years, and this is reflected in the improved quality in their top institutions," he says. "They have also attempted to internationalise their universities by hiring more faculty from overseas ... this helps to improve their visibility globally."

"These universities have also stressed the importance of their professors publishing in international journals, which has no doubt increased the visibility of their research."

Meanwhile, UM VC Professor Datuk Dr Ghauth Jasmon told The Malaysian Insider that local universities need to spend a minimum of RM200 million in research to be among the top universities in the world. Click here to read the story.