PUTRAJAYA: While other local public universities are lamenting their drop from the top 200 places in a recent world rankings survey, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) is celebrating its debut on the list of the best 500.

UTM was ranked 415 in the Times Higher Education Supplement-Quacquarelli Symonds (THES-QS) World University Rankings 2007 results released this week.

It also scored higher than other local universities in the recruiter review index which is rated by employers.

UTM has never been included in the rankings which began in 2004.

"We have breached the 500 barrier, below which universities are not included in the rankings," UTM vice-chancellor Tan Sri Prof Dr Mohd Zulkifli Mohd Ghazali said.
 

"It is boost for us, considering we have some 'handicaps' .

"Now more people will know about the university and this will help us expand and improve."

In the recruiter review index, UTM scored 161.

"This shows that employers have high regard for our graduates," Zulkifli said.

On UTM's "handicaps", he said it was not a research university, unlike the other four.

This affected its rank in the citations index, which reflects how much of research papers produced by a university is cited or referred to by other scientists in science journals.

UTM, as a technology university, also does not teach other disciplines which were considered in the rankings.

"We are not strong in arts and humanities, life science, bio-medicine, natural science and social science, which also affects our ranking in the peer review component.

"Peer review involves a lot of networking and public relations to make your university known to others," he added.

Peer review makes up 40 per cent of the overall ranking, while other criteria include recruiter review, citations per faculty, international faculty ratio and student faculty ratio. 

Zulkifli said there were currently 114 international contract professors and visiting professors in UTM.

It is in the midst of increasing the number of foreign faculties.

THES is a supplement in a London newspaper focusing on higher education sector issues. QS is an international career and education specialist.