WIPE Out Malaysian U’s in TOP 200 World University Ranking 2007 – Britain THES; 27 New universities - 4 Different countries in List; NUS 33; NTU 69

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WIPE out Malaysian U’s in TOP 200 World University Ranking 2007 – Britain THES; 27 New universities - 4 Different countries Enter List; NUS 33; NTU 69

ABOVE: STAR Report today, Note: the credit "UMNO has built .." emphasis.. so now can we say "UMNO has destroyed the Malalaysian Universities rankings...?"
Look at the top Nations, they have at least one or two top universities. What a shame for Malaysia!? Will another Space tourist redeem the loss in face among the "top Nations"?

As predicted in last year’s post “GOING, Going GONE Soon UM World UNIVERSITY RANKING in Top 200”, details H E R E , University Malaya finally and ignominiously exited the list from position 192 to 246. UKM which managed to crawl up to 185 (2006) & tasted glory for just a year and fell to 309. Its VC - Datuk Dr Sharifah Hapsah should do an “ostrich” and eat her words:
"We do not consider this a success until and unless we reach the No 1 position".
Be humble in life and not be too boastful for some Malaysia Bolih success.

Malaysian Premier U’s Ranking Records

----------------2004 2005 2006 2007

UM --------89 ----169---192 ---246

USM - - - --------326 ---277---307

UKM - - - --------289---185--- 309

The Higher Education Strategic Plan was only launched on 27 August 2007. The Plan forms the basis for the development of higher education until 2020. It is suppose to make Malaysia the centre of regional excellence in the field of higher education and using higher education the instrument of national integration. It will remain as an idealistic Plan in the transformation of higher education because the foundation stones are weak as for years the erosion has taken place when meritocracy is thrown to the winds for the sake of correcting the imbalances in the numbers. With the lack of meritocracy, systematic intense discrimination and racial profiling in our universities - not giving promotions to qualified lecturers besides a discriminative student admission policy. And the latest THES listing confirms a domino effect with the quality of these universities deteriorating every year.

When passing marks are lowered in pushing out the numbers, standards would naturally be compromised. And we have seen the “means used” justified the ends. A great many places and in many fields of endeavors they only “look & feel good” with all the money pumped in to shore them up. MSC is just a glaring example; the birth of PKFZ and so will be all these “corridors” now being opened north, south, east & west. The situation will become - too many corridors that open to nowhere. If these isolated places are slated to prosper, they would have taken place naturally. All these are excellent business plans with no fruitful results. Learn to walk first before running & rushing to the Stars in space.

How many academic promotions were based on merits or academic citations of faculty members? Only very recently we have seen “outsiders” from within being appointed and promoted to head important academic positions and these are just drops in an ocean and they would not have much significance on the prevailing mindsets. Change can only take place in mass dreams where everyone is involved.
And it will be a lofty dream and a wish of Government if existing institutions of higher education can create an atmosphere that is competitive, based on performance and meritocracy. The rot has set in a long long time ago and the majority of the academic staff is so well entrenched in their positions they would not budge from their well protected and privileged appointments. Where will they be dumped or go and where do you find replacements for the non–performing ones?. They will go nowhere and the status quo remains. Of course it is a noble aim to churn out graduates that will attract employers in the global marketplace but the input must be of the right quality materials.
The public institutions might fare better from their established years of experience with proper annual funding.

The worries are the private colleges and universities mushrooming over recent years where the bottom line is they are set up solely to make profits and satisfy their shareholders. For them, every Tom, Dick or Mat would eventually graduate after attending the prescribed period AND paying up all outstanding fees. Throw a stone and you can be sure to hit someone with a basic BSC or BA.

= = = == = ==and the local reactions, more excuses & they want more FUNDS (money)

2007/11/09
Malaysian varsities fail to make top 200 ranking
By : Chok Suat Ling and June Ramli, NST
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian universities are on a slippery slope. None of them made it to the top 200 placing in the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES)-Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings this year. This poor showing comes on the back of a recent government survey of local public universities which found that none deserved a place in the outstanding category. Last year,
[…]
UKM and UM vice-chancellors attributed their fall to the new methodology used to calculate rankings this year. "Even the National University of Singapore (NUS) has dropped to the 33rd spot when it was always within the top 10 (not true Rafiah, your facts are also slipping} " Universiti Malaya vice-chancellor Datuk Rafiah Salim said. "The way I look at it, smaller countries like Malaysia are bound to lose out as THES has introduced new criteria which is peer review and has changed the citation and list of publications."
Rafiah said with more than 3,000 universities getting ranked by THES annually, Malaysian universities had to improve if they wanted to remain on top of the list.
"If we want to compete with some of the top universities in the world, first we have to be in the same league.”Right now, we are not. One way to overcome that is through adequate funding."

[…]= == = === == == = == = ==

In the 2007 Top 200 List, it seems there is a shift to a new method of compilation and higher scoring is given to “staff-to-student ratio” and less to “percentage of international faculty”. Even Singapore NUS registered a fall to 33 from 19 and NTU to 69 from 61 and both are still in the TOP 100.

In the Top 10, the UK and USA still dominate - Harvard University, Cambridge, Oxford and Yale retain the top four positions for the second year. University College London and Chicago join the top 10 for the first time.

In the Top 50: The addition of the Netherlands sees 12 countries featured in the top 50 compared to 11 in 2006 . New entrants include; Brown University, Bristol, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Osaka, Boston, Amsterdam.

In the Top 100: The top 100 sees the number of Asian universities increase to 13 (12 in 2006) but the number of European Universities dropped to 35 (41 in 2006). North America strengthened to 43 Universities (37 in 2006). Top 200: Universities from 28 different countries represented in the top 200. Increases in International Faculty: 143 of the top 200 Universities reported an increase in their percentage of international faculty to total faculty. Increases in International Students: 137 of the top 200 Universities reported an increase in their percentage of international students to total students.

Some country highlights from the 2007 results:

UK: University College London joins Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and Imperial College in the world’s elite Top 10 and is the highest riser (from 25 in 2006) among the leading institutions.
USA: Princeton University’s continued domestic success is reflected in an improved international ranking, featuring in the top 10 for the first time, whilst, Pennsylvania, John Hopkins and Carnegie-Mellon join the top 20 for the first time.
Asia: Universities of Tokyo, Hong Kong, Kyoto, National University of Singapore, Peking, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Tsinghua and Osaka lead Asian higher education, all featuring in the top 50.
China: Fudan University joins Peking and Tsinghua Universities in world’s Top 100.
Canada: Stronger performance with 11 universities (up from 7 in 2006) in top 200
Latin America: In Latin American 3 universities make world’s top 200
Ireland: University College Dublin joins Trinity College Dublin in world’s Top 200
Scandinavia: Stronger as Uppsala and Helsinki Universities join Copenhagen University in the top 100
Africa: Cape Town at 200 is first ever African institution in the Rankings.

According to Martin Ince, of the Times Higher Education Supplement “The 2007 THES-QS World University Rankings are the most rigorous and complete so far. They show that the US and UK model of independent universities supported with significant state funding produces great results, but they also prove that academic excellence is found on every continent.” Nunzio Quacquarelli, Managing Director of QS, says: “The THES-QS World University Rankings has met an important need amongst universities, employers and young candidates to be able to compare and benchmark institutions across borders.

They have generated intense interest in recent years – this year, over one million unique visitors have checked out the results and methodology on www.topuniversities.com. The 2007 results are likely to generate even greater interest. Reflecting this, QS has received detailed survey responses from a record-breaking number of academics and employers to underpin these results. The QS website will have profiles of all ranked institutions available at a click and detailed information on this year's enhancements to the research methodology".

= == == = and from down under Singapore
Nov 8, 2007
NUS drops from 19 to 33 in global rankings

But shift is due to new method of compilation, NUS' low staff-to-student ratio By Sandra Davie, Education Correspondent THE National University of Singapore (NUS) took a tumble, from 19th spot to No. 33 this year, in the ranking of the world's top 200 universities published by The Times of London Higher Education Supplement on Thursday. However, this is due to a new way of scoring, said QS, the careers and education group that compiled the much-followed ranking. It said, with the change, NUS' previously high scores in certain categories such as the percentage of international faculty, did not give it much overall advantage this year.

On the other hand, NUS' low score on staff- to-student ratio affected its ranking. Mr Nunzio Quacquarelli, managing director of London-based QS, said NUS continues to do well in all other categories. US improved its score this year for the number of academic citations faculty members notched up. It scored 84 out of 100 here. 'There is no doubt it is one of the elite universities of the world,' said Mr Quacquarelli.
'NUS and NTU's placing in the top 100 are recognition of the quality of education that Singapore's universities offer.' Nanyang Technological University (NTU) ranked No. 69 this year, down from its 61st spot last year. Singapore Management University is not ranked because of its specialisation in business.
There are six categories.
Forty per cent of the total score depends on what academics from around the world think of the universities; while global employers' keenness to recruit their graduates counts for 10 per cent. The numbers of foreign students and staff a university attracts are worth 5 per cent each; and the ratios of students to staff and academic citations to staff count for 20 per cent each. NUS president Shih Choon Fong said: 'NUS still has good standing' as one of the top 50 universities and as one of the top five in Asia. He said NUS will continue to 'enhance students' experience and push for world class research'. He pointed out that NUS' effort in improving research is already showing in the citation score. On the staff-student ratio, he said many universities in the United States have significantly higher budgets and endowments and can thus afford to keep their enrolments low and faculty counts high. He added: 'We don't want to go and hire more faculties just to boost the numbers.

We want to ensure they are top quality in their field.' NUS currently have a 1,944-strong faculty, of which 52 per cent are from overseas. Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford and Yale universities maintained their top four positions for the second year. University College London and the University of Chicago join the top 10 for the first time. Apart from NUS, the London School of Economics was also affected by the scoring changes, dropping from 17th last year to 59th this year. Stanford fell from sixth to 19th.

The universities of Tokyo, Hong Kong, Kyoto, Beijing, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Tsinghua and Osaka were other Asian institutions in this year's top 50. Mr Martin Ince, contributing editor of The Times Higher Education Supplement, noted: 'The 2007 rankings show that the US and UK model of independent universities supported with significant state funding, produces great results, but they also prove that academic excellence is found on every continent.'

= == = ==
The THES-QS World Univer sity Rankings 2007 will reveal some dramatic changes compared with 2006. Now in it s fourth year, the research isconducted by QS Quacquar elli Symonds and the rankings compiled by andPublished in the Times Higher Education Supplement on 8th November 2007. The increasing internationalisation of universities is one of the emerging themes of recent years, through strategic global partnerships, joint teaching and research initiatives and increased international student recruitment activities. The THES-QS World Univ ersity Rankings 2007 reflects the internationalisation of higher education around the world, with 27 universities from 14 different countries entering the top 200 for the first time

=======and read UMNO great problem solver
November 08, 2007 23:37 PM
50 MIIM Students Evicted From College Building Complain To Umno Youth

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 (Bernama) -- Fifty students of the Malaysian Institute of Integrative Media (MIIM), who were evicted from their college building yesterday, have taken their complaints to the Umno Youth Education Bureau, blaming SAL College, which manages the MIIM, for their problem. The students, led by Student Council's president Nabilah Saleh and final-semester student Kumaran Rajamooney, voiced their concerns to bureau chairman Ahmad Ikmal Ismail at the Umno Youth headquarters in Menara Datuk Onn here today. "We were running the induction programme yesterday, which was supposed to finish at 5pm, but at 4pm we were told to stop. We did not know what to do when we saw people taking things away. The management has not informed us anything," Kumaran told Ahmad.

The parents' representative, Zulkifli Zainuddin, said the parents were also unhappy with what happened. "We've asked to see the top management of SAL College three times but to no avail. Instead, they kept sending a management representative. We are always in the dark as to what is really going on," said Nabilah. A representative of the college's lecturers and staff, Rahmahtunnisah Sailin, said they were also not getting the answers as to what was going on. The students also alleged poor maintenance of the MIIM building and lack of equipment for their studies. "We pay a fee of RM18,000, which should be enough to replace or repair the missing or broken equipment and to maintain the building," said Kumaran. "We've never had enough lecturers. For some strange reason, the lecturers at the college kept changing." Ahmad Ikmal then promised the students, and the accompanying lecturers and parents that Umno Youth would get to the bottom of the matter.

He said he would also talk to Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed, the Private Education Department and SAL College board of directors. The student body, which planned to hold a picket tomorrow, was advised against it by Ahmad Ikmal who said that picketing would not solve anything. The MIIM, formerly known as Akademi TV3, was sold to SAL Group of Colleges in July 2003. SAL then rented the premises from TV3 until TV3 sold it to Zetro Aerospace Corporation, which refused to allow SAL College to continue renting the premises resulting in yesterday's eviction