‘Happy’ Mustapa given a sounding 
Malaysiakini
Oct  7, 2006

Higher Education Minister Mustapa Mohamed should curb his enthusiasm over the achievement of two universities in the ‘unofficial’ Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) rankings, said Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang.

“Malaysia must be the only country which is celebrating about the scores of two universities, not because they are within the 200 Best Universities Ranking, but outside – USM (Universiti Sains Malaysia) and UPM (Universiti Putra Malaysia),” said Lim in a statement today.

Lim was commenting on news reports of Mustapa’s sense of delight over the two universities' significant gains in the rankings. UPM climbed from 394 last year to 292, while USM rose from 326 to 277.

“I am surprised that there has been an unofficial ranking of universities which fall outside THES’ 200 best universities, which must have been communicated privately to the individual universities concerned.

“If so, why hasn’t the Higher Education Ministry made public the ‘outside 200 Best Universities’ ranking of all the public universities evaluated for the annual THES World University Ranking?,” asked Lim.

Wrong signals

Lim believed that Mustapa should not forget that USM was once placed 111th by the THES rankings just two years ago before taking the 215 place dip in 2005.

“Although USM has improved by 49 places (in 2006), it is still 166 places behind as compared to two years ago and clearly outside the 200 Best Universities bracket. Should Mustapa be happy and uplifted by USM’s performance?” he added.

Lim said Mustapa’s reaction to the 2006 THES rankings would give the wrong signals to our local universities and that he should only be ‘happy’ should both USM and UPM make the top-200 grade.

Instead of celebrating, Lim advised Mustapa to channel his energy into getting the 17 public universities to buck up, even if it means threatening them with funding reductions, to ‘snap out their culture of mediocrity’.

Over the past three years, the THES rankings caused an uproar among certain quarters as Malaysia’s oldest public university - Universiti Malaya (UM) - made a consistent slide down the rankings.

It is now hanging precariously on the 192th slot, behind several regional universities such as Singapore’s National University (ranked 19) and Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University (161).