World University Rankings 2006

Good and bad.

In the World University Rankings 2006 published by The Times Higher Education Supplement, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) rose by 105 places to break into the top 200-ranked universities for the first time, climbing from 289 last year to 185.

However, the once premier University Malaya (UM) continues to head south, dropping a further 23 places to 192, fell from 89 in 2004 to 169 last year.

Unlike her predecessor, UM’s Vice Chacellor Rafiah Salim was saddened by the turn of events, said that it also acknowledged that the top spot had been taken by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).

"We came out with our new mission which was launched yesterday and in our new mission statement we have actually dropped the adjective ‘premier’. [...]

"We are very realistic people really. Also we don’t want to keep on believing and living in past glories, we would like to build from where we are now towards the future," [...]

"It’s probably a way of getting the UM family to really together bring up Universiti Malaya again," [...]

Instead of condemning the down trend of UM, we should applause the VC’s admission for the courage in facing the brutal reality. At least, she confessed the reality UM is facing now and shows a trustworthy sense of urgency to bring UM back to it’s glory days.

Meanwhile, the huge disparity gap between Singapore’s and Malaysia’s ranking remains a myth. Why Singapore is able to attain that kind of achivement while Malaysia can’t? Why Singapore is capable of continuous improvement and maintain the standard up there? How are we going to play the catch up game? Are we going to reach there eventually?

(SOURCE: The Star, 6 October 2006)