PUTRAJAYA: The Ministry of Higher Education is carrying out a detailed study to ascertain the number of public and private universities still needed by the country in its effort to achieve developed nation status by 2020, said its Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.
Khaled said the study was important to ensure courses offered were relevant and to maintain the quality and ranking of Malaysian universities at the international level.
Malaysia was currently an important education hub in the region with many renowned foreign universities’ having branch campuses in the country, he told a press conference after handing over HELP College’s certificate of upgrade to University College status, here today.
He said tertiary level entry in the country now was only at 40 per cent compared to 60 per cent in the United States.
According to him, as of July 31 there were 25 private universities, 22 university college branches and five foreign university branches in Malaysia.
He urged both public and private universities to priorities research and development so that they could be competitive choices for local and foreign students.
Khaled added he was proud of the seven public universities which were ranked among the top 600 universities of the world.
“Congratulations to all of them. We had only five in the list before but two have been added this year, the International Islamic University, Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi
Mara. University Malaya has also moved up from 207 to 167th place and for the first time we are ahead of universities from Thailand and Taiwan,” he said. — Bernama