Guess what? The much awaited THES-QS is out. For those who is unfamiliar with this, this is the Times Higher Education Supplement Quacquarelli Symonds (THES-QS) World Universities ranking. This is a ranking system, used to rank higher education institutions. It provides a platform for comparison and competitiveness among universities, and more useful for students like myself, to choose where provides the best education. Since this ranking system has been introduced four years ago, it has generated a lot of controversial remark and debate around the globe, on how higher learning institutions are ranked.
As usual, according to the list, the top universities still dominate. Harvard U, followed by Cambridge, Oxford and Yale University. Of course, it can't be denied that all this prestigious Uni's have a long serving slice of history that made them THAT good. Just ask any student where are their dream universities and sure there will be the top 3 on their lips. The according to a newspaper article, the criteria used to measure and gather the data for the rankings are based on peer review(40%), recruiter review(10%), international faculty ratio(5%), international students ratio(5%), student-faculty ratio(5%) and citations per faculty(20%). Although the report has stressed that it doesn't reflect the actual performance and quality of the learning institutions, it does create a cloud over our heads weather are we good or bad.
For the 1st time since ranking began, Malaysia does not have a university in the top 200(i dunno why i am so excited typing this XD). Sadly for us Malaysian local university students, it makes us less marketable, for the time being. The Malaysian universities ranking UM(no.246), USM(no.307!!), UKM(no.309), and UPM(no.364). UKM suffered the most, from last year's top 200 to outside 300, it must be a big blow. Especially for "those" who wow to maintain it's standard.
WELL, that sums it all, malaysian universities are WEAK.
I am 18, currently studying in USM, and i find the standard of education rather high, though not all educator(some are still arrogant and teach crap in class). So what's the point. I heard from my seniors that USM final papers are the most difficult to score compared to other higher learning universities. Actually i am ok with that, it show that we are that good. We still have a long way to go and learn, despite boasting being the countries older learning institution, we are still not on par with others outside. Hopefully malaysian universities practice QC, quality control, if you know what do i mean.
For those of you reading this, since i am insider(USM student), maybe i can provide you with some ideas why we are moving backwards.
Are we really moving backwards, or is it other people moving at a greater speed?
1st problem, lecturers, yes there a good ones, those who are dedicated in their teaching. And there are also those, rather weak in teaching and have no passion entertaining their students. Well, in my 1st semester in USM, there are both types of those. Thankfully, the latter less
.
2nd, mentality. Like my previous titles, i talked a lot about mentality. This is learning mentality. I found out a portion of USM students are rather unactive in, almost everything. Gaming and studying is their life. What is BALANCED??? We're
LOSING it
...
3rd, not knowledgeable. Most students are unaware of the outside world. Come on, in few years we're going to conquer the society. We students should what to choose, what to listen, because we are
matured. Maturity, mentally that is, are lacked from students these days. We should know when to play, when to study, when to relax.
This are the few points i can figure out while blogging this.. will add if i find out more.
And there is 1 more good news for my fellow USM peers, according to Academic Reputation Survey(ARES), USM score a
straight 5(excellent) in 4 categories, that is BEST OVERALL UNIVERSITY, REPUTATION OF ACADEMIC, CHOICE UNIVERSITIES FOR STUDENTS and RESEARCH UNIVERSITY. Keep on the good work. We are currently the best in Malaysia.
Our prime minister once said that all higher learning institutions in Malaysia had to be rank to increase their competitiveness. Like one of my friend once told me, if the standard of local universities do not increase, one day private colleges in Malaysia will overtake them. This THES-QS serves as a warning to all of us, that we are not yet world class and why a lot of people prefer to forward their studies overseas. Lets hope to see an improvement in 2008.
~this is the 2007 THES-QS ranking list, click to download
2007_Top_200_Compact.pdf
