Let’s not get excited over Times Higher Education rankings, Zambry told

PETALING JAYA: A former Penang deputy chief minister urged higher education minister Zambry Abdul Kadir to curb his enthusiasm after two Malaysian universities were ranked among the world’s top seven institutions in a global survey.

P Ramasamy said while Malaysians should be proud of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)’s academic achievements, it is unclear that the criteria used by the Times Higher Education (THE) were “beyond dispute”.

He said THE has often been criticised for using academic criteria biased in favour of well-established universities.

At the same time, depending on the criteria used, obscure universities can rise to the top of the rankings, while universities known for their excellent undergraduate teaching programmes often receive lower rankings, Ramasamy added.

The academic-turned-politician also said THE has the tendency to elevate universities in the English-speaking world, with institutions in the non-English-speaking world not receiving the same scores as their English-speaking counterparts.

He said a university with a strong reputation for academic excellence and teaching might lose out to relatively obscure universities because of the criteria used.

He also said there is no universal definition of accepted criteria in determining the rankings of global universities.

“I hope Zambry understands the controversial nature of THE rankings. He should not think and act as though USM and UKM are the fifth and seventh best universities in the world,” he said in a Facebook post.

Yesterday, Zambry said the two universities put Malaysia on the world map after securing places among the world’s top seven universities in the THE Impact Rankings 2026, among more than 1,600 universities assessed.

He said such an accomplishment proves that Malaysian universities excel not only in teaching and research, “but also in delivering meaningful contributions to society and the global sustainability agenda”.

Ramasamy went on to say that having been an academic at UKM for 25 years, he would be the last person to deny that it has a good reputation in certain areas of research and publication.

However, at the same time, he was not willing to state that it is the seventh-best university in the world.

“It does not mean that universities that receive high rankings in the THE survey are necessarily the most excellent ones. Conversely, those that do not feature prominently in the rankings are not necessarily substandard institutions.

“Zambry should exercise caution in overpraising the achievements of our local public universities,” Ramasamy said.