‘Excellent’ score for 18 varsities

Eighteen higher education institutions achieved Tier Five or “excellent” status in the Rating System for Malaysian Higher Education 2009 (Setara).

Seven of them were public universities and the rest were private universities.

Another 25 institutions – 14 private and 11 public – were classified as Tier Four or “Very Good” while four achieved Tier Three or “Good” status.

Those in Tier Five will receive incentives like being able to enrol local and foreign government sponsored students, have access to government grants and can determine their postgraduate student intake.

Tier Five private institutions would also be exempted from certain provisions in the Private Higher Educational Institutions Act 1996 (Act 555).

They need not have to apply for teaching permits for lecturers, can determine the salary of foreign lecturers, and set course fees.

Universiti Malaya (UM) vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Ghauth Jasmon said he was happy that UM was placed in Tier Five.

“This shows that we are on the right track,” he said.

“It is also a positive development in regards to obtaining grants as what UM needs is more funding to break into the top 100 in the Time Higher Education world university rankings.

“The funding will be used for critical fields like biomedical sciences, physics and nanotechnology,” he added.