UTM Ranked the Highest in Malaysia
The Times Higher Education Supplement- Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings rank universities by several indicators of academic or research performance, including academic peer review (40%), citations per faculty member (20%), recruiter review (10%), proportion of international faculty (5%), proportion of international students (5%) and student faculty ratio (20%).
These indicators reflect the scores on the four ranking criteria : Research Quality (peer review & citations), Graduate Employability (recruiter review), International Outlook (international faculty and students) and Teaching Quality (student-faculty ratio).
(see details in www.topuniversities.com/worlduniversityrankings
/university_rankings_news/ )
The Recruiter Review score based on responses to recruiter (employer) survey and related to the Graduate Employability criteria. It indicates the perception of the recurting companies on the graduates of the University. Recruiter names are sourced through QS databases, media partners and partner schools & universities.
Responses are weighted by region to reach a final score. Aside from the online surveys used for the Peer and Recruiter Reviews for which in addition to QS own lists, data was used from World Scientific, Mardev, JobsDB (Philippines) and JobStreet (Malaysia), a range of other sources of data have been used.
Dr. Marguerite Clarke, an international education consultant based in Adelaide, Australia, discussed the rise in demand of university rankings and their impact on students in three student-related areas: access to higher education, choice of school, and opportunities after graduation.
According to Clarke, studies show that university rankings can threaten higher education access for disadvantaged students by creating incentives for schools to recruit students who will be “assets” in terms of maintaining or enhancing their position in the rankings.
(see her article in this page- www.topuniversities.com/worlduniversityrankings/university_rankings_news/article )
Evidence from the US and Europe suggests that rankings do not play a large role in most students’ choice of a university or graduate program. For example, of the 221,897 undergraduate students who responded to one survey, 11% (mainly from high-income families) saw university rankings as a very important factor in their choice of school while 60% found them not at all important.
In terms of student opportunities after graduation, studies in several countries have found a relationship between the perceived status of the degree-granting institution (a characteristic that relates strongly to university rankings) and employment and earnings outcomes for graduates.
These studies suggest that the impact is temporary for most students, although there can be a more enduring effect for low-income students and graduates of professional programs. Rankings appear to have little or no sway on employers who hire graduates in very specialized or newly established program areas that are in high demand.
Early data suggest that the global ranking systems are helping to better inform prospective students in many countries about the available choices, including where they can obtain a high quality education for a reasonable price.
It is important for higher education institutions to reflect on their use of ranking information. This involves considering whether rankings may be unduly influencing priorities and processes in certain aspects of institutional life, including admission decisions.
Dr. Clarke pointed out that, it is important for students to recognize that rankings reflect only one aspect of an institution’s profile and are not necessarily predictive of the quality of the education that they will receive, or of the opportunities that will be available to them after graduation.
In 2007, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has scored favourably in the Recruiter Review criteria compared to other Malaysian universities in the Top-500 World University Rankings 2007. For comparison, the recruiter review ranking for Malaysian universities in descending order : Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (161), University of Malaya (173), Universiti Putra Malaysia (266), Universiti Sains Malaysia (274) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (316).(Corporate Affairs, UTM)
