Malaysian university breaks into top 50 in Asia

PETALING JAYA: A Malaysian university has entered the top 50 Asian universities for the first time, according to the Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Rankings 2025.

Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) has climbed nine places to 43rd in Asia, sharing the rank with South Korea’s Hanyang University.

Meanwhile, Universiti Malaya (UM) moves up one spot to 64th, making it the country’s second highest-ranked institution.

Out of the 23 Malaysian institutions in this year’s rankings, 11 are in the top 200.

Others in the top 200 include Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (86th), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Sains Malaysia (both ranked 103rd), Universiti Utara Malaysia (127th), Universiti Putra Malaysia (=132nd), Sunway University (=141st), Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah (163rd), Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (173rd), and Universiti Tenaga Nasional (=181st). The = denotes a shared rank with another institution.

Management and Science University is newly ranked this year and appears in the 401-500 band.

Mainland China leads the rankings again with Tsinghua University in first place for the seventh consecutive year, while Peking University retains its second spot.

China holds five of the top 10 spots, with Fudan University and Zhejiang University each moving up to seventh and eighth, respectively.

Shanghai Jiao Tong University remains in the top 10 but drops to 10th.

Institutions from Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong complete the rest of the top 10, with little change at the top from the 2024 rankings.

In a statement on Thursday (April 24), THE chief global affairs officer Phil Baty said, “Overall, we can see Asian higher education and research characterised by a wonderful diversity of excellence, with strong results in the East, in Singapore, South Korea and Japan in particular, and with growing visibility and success in the rankings for Southeast Asian nations too, notably Malaysia.”

The full rankings can be viewed at https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2025/regional-ranking