The National University of Singapore was the only Southeast Asian institute of higher learning which made the Top 50 at number 21, making it the third highest ranked Asian university on the list.

Other Asian universities in the top 50 of the World Reputation Rankings include University of Tokyo, Japan (11th place), Kyoto University, Japan (19), Seoul National University, Korea (26), Tsinghua University, China (36), Peking University, China (41), The University of Hong Kong (43) and Osaka University, Japan (50).

Our universities have generous research funding, but that is not available to some of us teaching in matriculation colleges.  At times, I wonder if the funding is misused.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysian-varsities-again-fail-to-enter-global-higher-education-survey#sthash.qgxXsLF7.dpuf

The National University of Singapore was the only Southeast Asian institute of higher learning which made the Top 50 at number 21, making it the third highest ranked Asian university on the list.

Other Asian universities in the top 50 of the World Reputation Rankings include University of Tokyo, Japan (11th place), Kyoto University, Japan (19), Seoul National University, Korea (26), Tsinghua University, China (36), Peking University, China (41), The University of Hong Kong (43) and Osaka University, Japan (50).

Our universities have generous research funding, but that is not available to some of us teaching in matriculation colleges.  At times, I wonder if the funding is misused.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysian-varsities-again-fail-to-enter-global-higher-education-survey#sthash.qgxXsLF7.dpuf

Dear Miranda,

If you rank 1000 universities, there will always be a number one and a number 1000. Perhaps the rank will change when other criteria are used (e.g. long-term versus short-term vision). This does not imply that number 1000 is not good. All will depend on the human-defined standards used. 

Dear @Miranda, have you look into a Shangai Ranking list? "The 2014 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) is released today by the Center for World-Class Universities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Starting from 2003, ARWU has been presenting the world Top 500 universities annually based on transparent methodology and reliable data. It has been recognized as the precursor of global university rankings and the most trustworthy one." Many good conclusions may be get from analysis the ranking lists in few years! Your country has 2 ranked Universities in top 500!

http://www.shanghairanking.com/

http://www.shanghairanking.com/World-University-Rankings-2014/Malaysia.html

Dear @Marcel, there is some truth in what you say, about the 1000th not necessarily being bad.  But you see, our education minister has said that our education system is better than US, Britain:  'Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin previously said that Malaysia has one of the best education systems in the world – better than United States, Britain and Germany.

On top of that: 'universities in Thailand and Singapore continued to track higher' despite high budget allocation for education. - See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysian-varsities-again-fail-to-enter-global-higher-education-survey#sthash.GXiD9gPM.dpuf

Thanks dear Prof Ljubomir, for the link.  I have checked out the placings of UM and USM in it.  UM has improved somewhat though.

I suppose the best so far is this: The only THE survey that Malaysia made the cut was last year’s 100 Universities in Emerging Countries, where Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia took the 77th spot while Universiti Putra Malaysia was in the 95th place. - See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysian-varsities-again-fail-to-enter-global-higher-education-survey#sthash.GXiD9gPM.dpuf

Thanks Dr Shanmugam; congrats to you for your great efforts, initiatives and many sacrifices!  Perhaps in developing countries, we scholars are required to make many sacrifices.  Our countries (India and Malaysia) were British colonies, and we should not have much problems with English being the language of science.

I looked at the list which was provided thankfully by Professor Ljubomir Jacić. These are names of old or relatively old well-established & properly-supported universities. I have visited some of these universities & I saw by myself how these universities function. When the right person is placed in the right position, when there is an atmosphere for diligence & hard work, when the university is not a spying network, and when each constructive activity is rewarded fairly & squarely... there will be hope of reaching what they reached. 

The bureaucracy is the lesser evil when something has to be done (in this case the productivity of universities and their funding to be allocated). But there is no science more inexact than bureaucracy. Every year a list of Italian universities is ranked on the basis of well-established criteria. But I'm sure that, despite appearances, the substance is very different; funds are not given according to list criteria and criteria themselves are evaluated by too subjective opinions.

Dear Dr Nizar, thanks  for your view.  I agree heartily: 'When the right person is placed in the right position, when there is an atmosphere for diligence & hard work, when the university is not a spying network, and when each constructive activity is rewarded fairly & squarely... there will be hope of reaching what they reached.'

So we cannot run away from justice and fairness, honesty and meritocracy!

Thanks dear @Enzo.  Maybe you can discuss more fully about your own university concerning:  

'Every year a list of Italian universities is ranked on the basis of well-established criteria. But I'm sure that, despite appearances, the substance is very different; funds are not given according to list criteria and criteria themselves are evaluated by too subjective opinions.'  

I agree totally with you Dr. Nizar!

Dear Mitranda and Other Friends,

Here is what I would do:

Focus on the quality of each of the following:  teaching, research, students, professors. Make sure that there is a fair number of students in classes and that professors have enough time to do research and that they are actively involved in conferences. The question of ranking, in my view, is academic jargon we have suggested and allowed others to believe!

I agree with you Dr. Nizar: "When the right person is placed in the right position, when there is an atmosphere for diligence & hard work, when the university is not a spying network, and when each constructive activity is rewarded fairly & squarely... there will be hope of reaching what they reached."

This topic is somewhat falls in a category similar to  the discussion we have made in an other thread  regarding Impact factor cases of journals and why scientists suffer to be graded by business companies such as Thomson Reuters and makes research unnecessary burden and makes it a dog eat dog world.

The same thing with grading universities across the globe by the same business companies on their own set of parameters and how they permeate every activity of learning and research of the human society and profit from that huge human franchise of education. What should measure universities success is the impact they make in the community they operate, the activities they participate globally to create, share and disseminate knowledge.

If all things are in order, the high professionalism of the teaching and research faculty, and administrative staff, the high performing students and their numbers, the scientific infrastructures with the state of the art to deliver education and do research, then things will follow naturally. 

In fact, all global ranking process are made depending on the website and the information that is on the website. The ranking process will be more serious and more accurate if they depend on site visits, and coming into universities so as to verify all documents and see all evidences.

Miranda,

I think that the process  can be described well by several classic models of social segregation: for instance Schelling’s two classical models of racial segregation (the checkerboard model and the neighborhood tipping model), or Harvey Goldstein & Philip Noden model (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0305498032000080693#.VDlpUnu9rto)

for British schools, and some others.

Dear Mohammed and Jeanan, have you met up with similar situation in your varsities, past or present?  UM and USM (on Prof Ljubomir's list) are our top 2 varsities, and the oldest in our country.  Many other universities didn't even feature at all in the top 500.

Dear Prof Mahfuz, you are concerned about checking documents and evidences.  Thanks, I believe that all our varsities have that external auditing.  Even though we are a matriculation college that's only 5 years old, we have just been given the ISO certificate on last Friday, 10 October.

https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_preparations_did_you_do_before_being_audited

Dear@Alex, are you saying that racial segregation may contribute to this state of affairs in our universities?  It's likely.  This was Obama's comment: 'Malaysia will not succeed if non-Muslims marginalised.'

Obama made a similar comment about Myanmar; that Muslims should not be marginalized in Myanmar.  The sad thing is that minorities are being marginalized in some places!

- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/malaysia-will-not-succeed-if-non-muslims-marginalised-says-obama#sthash.tNu5q9jw.dpuf

Thanks @Profs Dejenie, Marwan and friends, I didn't participate in many threads even though I follow some because of several reasons.  Yes I realize that this phenomenon of rating universities by their research IF, rather than by ACTUAL IMPACT to the community is quite artificial. But now I have a colleague.  She did her Masters at UM.  She was told that she will only get the degree if she succeeds in publishing 1 paper in a journal with IF.  She has been waiting for a year, but did not get news about her paper.  (The link has useful info on this question.)

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/173470

Dear Miranda,

I think your colleague whom was told that she will only get the degree if she succeeds in publishing 1 paper in a journal with IF. That is OK. The bad news was that she had been waiting for a year, but did not get news about her paper. This is really a big problem.

Dear Prof Mahfuz, dear friends, you are right that the bad thing is that she didn't get news of her paper.  But there was a complication.  I don't know why her supervisor didn't advise her that she must only send the paper to 1 journal.  So I have recently advised her to write up another paper and send it to only 1 journal.

Dear friends, related to my question, the link that I found recently has something to say:

'The language of instruction and the curricula were the early and most obvious casualties, followed by the quiet but systematic purging of the very talent that had given the place its stature.  We know the results, it's there for all to see - in the faculties, the seminar rooms and the hordes of unemployable, inarticulate graduates emerging from them.  UM vice-chancellor Ghauth Jasmon's Herculean task is to clean out the proverbial Aegean stables. He has as much hope of succeeding as a snowflake in hell.'

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/173470

Dear Miranda,

Yes, it is a good step that you have recently advised your colleague to write up another paper and send it to only one journal. That is a good advice.

Education institutions compete by selecting the proportion of their funding devoted to teaching and research;  the criteria for admission for their students, and where students choose whether and where to attend university.

• The relationship between the cost incurred by students for attending a university located away from their home town and
• Job prospects after study
• Opportunity for Further  studies
• Relative position of the University with others within the same cost and hurdles

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=317823

Dear Profs and friends, recently many of the young people I know in church chose to study in UK universities that are based in Malaysia.  Relatives and church friends helped to pay the expenses.  My pastor's son got a job immediately as an engineer upon graduation.  Here is a favorite university: Nottingham in Malaysia.

Dear @Miranda, seems so strange about Nottingham in your country! Did this University pass accreditation process due to Malaysia's law!? The state should take care of its institutions of higher education and to make them stronger. Otherwise, foreign universities will prevail over national universities!

UGA losing ground, January 27, 2012, Online Athens

The state’s future depends on the health of the University of Georgia, UGA President Michael Adams said in his annual State of the University address Thursday.

“Georgia’s success depends on UGA’s success. There is no way around it. We educate Georgia at UGA,” Adams said.

Because of reduced funding from state government, the university has lost ground compared to its peer universities and compared to the colleges, this university strives.

I think universities should be  ranked on their quality of education system, recognition of their diplomas and usefulness to their societies. A ranking based only on publications is not fair and many time virtual 'especially in developing countries where research standards and ethics are not met yet';

I think it is not logical nor serious that prestigious universities with research standards and historical credits could be assessed with new born universities or not efficient ones from education system or research standards belonging at the same time to different countries rich, poor, developed, developing, ...etc

For example in my country Algeria ' a developing country', most of the universities publications 'in phd studies' are joined with french labs who mostly perform and supervise the publications and where Algerian phd students spend18 months of their thesis work duration,. Those publications are shared with french universities , however are Algerian universities ranked same as French ones??? and are Algerian universities have same recognition of their diplomas and education system and work under same standards as the French ones??

Thanks for your views.  Dear Prof Ljubomir, many students who attend foreign universities here because the local ones did not take them in based on the quota system for the different ethnic groups.  So several foreign universities thrive.  They produce good, competent and diligent students that the private sector is happy to employ.

Thanks @dear Umachandran for giving us the example of UGA.  I appreciate the up to date info you provide.

Dear Fairouz, I agree entirely with 'universities should be ranked on their quality of education system, recognition of their diplomas and usefulness to their societies. A ranking based only on publications is not fair and many time virtual 'especially in developing countries where research standards and ethics are not met yet';'

Dear @Miranda, as prescribed quotas are not inconsistent with the Constitution of your country, such practice MUST be changed! It is very bad for your country!

The strategic planning effort was organized around four questions:

1. Who are we as an institution?

2. Where do we want to go?

3. How can we get there?

4. How will we tell if we have?

The first question suggests the need to identify the essential qualities of Cornell University, in particular its fundamental commitments. This is the purpose of section II. The second question refers to goals or objectives toward which the university should work over the next five years. The plan uses the term objectives to refer to the specific goals (ends) or directions. The third question refers to the actions (means) needed to move in these directions. The objectives should be actionable, and this is why the plan (see Section IV) uses the term actions in lieu of tactics or strategies. Finally, in response to the last question, the plan proposes an institutional-level framework for assessing progress toward objectives of the plan, recognizing that the metrics and indicators need to be developed further at the implementation stage in colleges and departments

http://www.cornell.edu/strategicplan/docs/060410-strategic-plan-final.pdf

Thank you Miranda; indeed many developing  countries haven't built standards and policies for their research yet. And most of them work for or under developed countries research programs, however without their research management standards. The problem of added names into papers is frequent, the same for false diplomas 'on the basis of false authors names'. For example in my country(I've mentioned it in precedent threads) that  no reel authority of regulation exists( in research institutes and outside them) for their scientific committees decisions, planning and reports contents; in parallel universities work in junction with french universities phd subjects. Research institutes 'those who are organized in permanent research' are loosing their specialties and expertise as they are not connected with french research programs through research protocols  as universities are with their phd students.The researchers are totally missed or asked to work in clandestine form with phd students 'without any significant agenda and planning with the student's supervisor'  some of these students are in the same time chiefs of research teams in research institutes! 'incredible since their peers in universities couldn't have this privilege '. In my personal experience I've been joined ( through the official website of my institute)  to a research team working under a research axis of composite materials  organized by 2 persons working individually and separately on phd subjects with  2 different supervisors and universities, my program wasn't defined by any of the phd students , nor by their supervisors who I've never met or even known, in the same time I've not obtained any research protocol 'that i've asked for' from the scientific committee of my institute from the objectives of the research axis and the subject that i should work on, with what university and team work (as the students chiefs  were always busy with their thesis and have joined the french universities for their 18 months); In absence of clear objectives and research subject and protocol, i wasn't able to perform any work into this axis and lost 3 years in struggling with the administrative staff for the research ethics and clarity. The same thing is happening now with another research axis and with a team of students under different supervisors from 2 different universities!!! i'm totally lost i don't know what i should do, how i could protect my work and what work i should perform and for who !!! my proposals of projects teamwork and even cooperation with-other institutions are automatically rejected by the scientific committee without any evaluation. At top management posts the response is same 'ignorance!!' of my requests and administrative sanctions for having dare to pose real questions of regulation and copyright protection

So is there any regulation, ethics and working standards ???

Dear Profs Ljubomir, Umachandran, Fairouz, and friends,  there is a clause in the constitution of my country as below.  That is why many laws were made that are entirely different from what you will understand concerning justice.  Please read the link.  It has led steadily to brain drain of the Chinese and Indian community from this country.  

Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia grants the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King of Malaysia) responsibility for “safeguard[ing] the special position of the ‘Malays’(see note) and natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak and the legitimate interests of other communities” and goes on to specify ways to do this, such as establishing quotas for entry into the civil service, public scholarships and public education.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_153_of_the_Constitution_of_Malaysia

Dear @Miranda, how to understand the wide meaning of the following "...and the legitimate interests of other communities..."!?

Dear Ljubomir,

And how, in turn,  to understand the wide meaning of  the legitimate "rights" of other communities?!

Dear Profs Ljubomir, Marwan; I will give you the info that I have now from internet; there may be some minor changes since this info was uploaded.  Concerning the civil service:

Malaysia has the highest Malay ethnic in the civil service, partly also due to the large Malay ethnic group in Malaysia, which consists of about 50.4 percent of the population. However, if the Malays and the other indigenous people (Bumiputera) are taken together, they compose about 67 percent of the population in Malaysia. Consequently, the Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak has been trying to be open on the issue, and henceforth, increase the intake of other races, such as, the Indians, and Chinese into the civil service, with the latest, is the appointment of the Minister of Human Resources, Subramaniam Sathasivam, an Indian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_service_in_Malaysia

Concerning the civil service, this is also mentioned:

'However, oppositions of the government claimed that the number of civil servants, of other denominations, are still lacking in numbers, henceforth suggesting the number to be increase in a more fair and open system, one such source, is the WikiLeaks that appeared in Malaysia Today on June 6 had the cable further quoting K. Govindan, who was the former Economic Planning Unit, deputy director-general, opinion that the Malaysian civil service adopts 'a narrow worldview and will oppose, even refuse to implement, reforms, perceived as damaging ethnic Malay interests, even if convinced of the long-run gains for Malaysia'.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_service_in_Malaysia

I'm a civil servant, I work hard for all my students of all races.  And they love me.  

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2012/06/10/correcting-the-civil-service-racial-imbalance/

Fine article dear @Miranda. "The most important reason why disparity in civil service participation amongst the races exists is the discrimination against non-Malays in recruitment and promotion exercises."

Is this quote really stands:"Factors of pride, dignity and self-respect also come into play which explains why non-Malays refuse to remain in the service even when they have a good position."?