KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian institutions of higher learning dominated the list of top 10 public and private universities in Southeast Asia.
Four higher education institutions made it to the top 10 list for public universities, with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia securing the highest spot.
Meanwhile, six Malaysian institutions were in the top 10 list for private universities, with Sunway University in first place.
This was revealed by prominent higher education ranking and rating agency AppliedHE in its latest Public and Private University Ranking for Asean.
AppliedHE founder Mandy Mok said the ranking focuses solely on Asean universities offering locally accredited degrees, with Teaching and Learning making up 40 per cent of the emphasis and Employability 15-20 per cent.
Also considered were research, internationalisation, community engagement, and institutional reputation or brand value.
"Among the 10 most highly ranked public universities, are four universities from Malaysia and two each from Brunei and Singapore. Indonesia's IPB University (Bogor Agricultural University) is in third place, and Thailand's Mahidol University is in fifth.
UKM's score of 75.94 beat out the much vaunted and internationally-known National University of Singapore, which came in second with a score of 73.73.
The three other public universities in the top 10 were Universiti Putra Malaysia (sixth), Universiti Malaya (seventh) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (10th).
Mok said the six Malaysian private universities were joined in the top 10 by two from Indonesia and one each from Thailand and Cambodia.
Thailand's Krirk University came in second, ahead of Malaysia's UCSI University, Taylor University and Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur in third to fifth places.
Asia Metropolitan Universiti (seventh) and Universiti Teknologi Petronas (eighth) were the other Malaysian universities in the top 10.
Mok said the rankings matter because they assess what matters most to students and parents: quality education and job prospects.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) chief executive officer Prof Datuk Dr Mohammad Shatar Sabran said: "AppliedHE fills an important need in the global higher education evaluation landscape with a focus on quality of teaching and learning, and especially employment and future careers.
"This makes AppliedHE especially relevant to Malaysian students and parents when making a decision on where to study."
