Following
the recent debate over University of Malaya’s non-participation in the famed
Times Higher Education Ranking (THES), I as the coordinator of UM Economics
Students’ Secretariat (UMESS) would like to offer my opinion to refute the
statements by Mr. Lim Kit Siang of DAP and student groups such as Mahasiswa
Keadilan Malaysia and Progressive University of Malaya.
Mr.Lim
has criticised UM for “chickening out” of the Times ranking but instead choose
to partake in the QS ranking which is often regarded as “less demanding”
compared to the former. What Mr. Lim failed to understand is UM has never
walked away from the THES ranking, but rather chose to defer the participation
to 2017. This might, in turn create another question. Why must wait until 2017?
Why not now?
This
decision of non-participation was taken during the leadership of the former
Vice Chancellor, Tan Sri Ghauth Jasmon. To the students of University of Malaya
and those who know him in person, Tan Sri Ghauth is known for his concern and
emphasis on international university ranking. However, he made the
controversial decision of non-participation in the Times ranking because of
several reasons. Participation in the QS ranking is continued as usual.
The History
Times
Higher Education and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) used to jointly produce the
rankings known then as Times Higher Education–QS World University Rankings from
2004 until 2009. However, the collaboration was ended in 2010 with QS retaining
the intellectual property and the methodology used to evaluate the varsities’
performances. The Times, on the other hand, collaborated with Thomson Reuters,
with a different set of methodology.
The
Times’ new methodology evaluates certain elements such as research citations in
a different approach compared to the QS. Several changes in the methodology are
seen as more-inclined to the Western varsities and less considerate on the
upcoming universities in the developing countries. For instance, QS looks at
the research citations done in the past five years while the Times ranking
looks at the past 10 years. So, how does this pose problems to UM?
UM
has been receiving research grants from the Federal Government for years,
albeit in small amounts. Significant research grants only came in the last 6 to
7 years, after the Research University concept was introduced by the
Government. With research grants growing many folds, ISI-indexed citations have
also increased along the years. If UM is to participate now, the ranking would
be badly affected as the Times looks at the past 10 years and our citations
have been minimal before the significant increase in research grants. To the uninitiated, under the Times ranking,
citation (research impact) amounts to 32.5% of the total score and this can
cause severe upset to UM’s performance.
Many
proponents of the Times ranking cite UM’s “extraordinary” achievement in 2004
when it was ranked 89th. This is often used as a reason to reinforce
their stand that UM should participate in the Times ranking. What these people
fail to understand is that, it is wrong to equate the ranking in 2004 with the
Times ranking now as the 89th rank is prior to the split and the current
Times ranking is using a different methodology. QS, however, is using the same
methodology as in 2004.
UM
was ranked 89th in 2004, 169th in 2005, 192nd
in 2006 and 180th in 2009. UM was not even listed in the top 200 for
the years 2007 and 2008. Looking at these figures, one could easily feel
curious at the 89th ranking in 2004. Actually, UM “managed” to
attain the best ranking thus far in 2004 because of technical errors in the submission
of data. To clarify, in the QS-THES ranking of 2004, ethnic minorities (local
citizens) in University of Malaya were mistakenly counted as international
students, thus pushing the score higher and giving UM an incredible ranking.
This however, was later rectified in 2005 and this explains the sudden fall to
169th rank in 2005.
To
all the critics and student leaders out there, UM has been doing a gradual
improvement to its performance with the latest 151st rank as the
best so far, apart from the 89th position in 2004. Hopefully, with
continuous monitoring and improvements, by 2017, UM can and will take part in
the Times ranking for the first time. With the transformation plan envisaged by
the former VC ongoing, hopefully University of Malaya can yield a good ranking
in the Times Higher Education ranking in 2017.
To the current Vice Chancellor, from
my observation, critical thinking and general knowledge amongst the students
have been deteriorating for quite some time. Hopefully, something can be done
quickly, as I believe there is no point in the University churning out “4 flat
zombies” with no critical thinking capabilities.
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