Good news for Malaysians: our universities are climbing the global ranks once again.
The latest QS World University Rankings 2026 showed major improvements for several local institutions, highlighting Malaysia’s growing presence in the international academic arena.
Four Malaysian universities have secured spots in the list, reaffirming the nation’s rising strength in higher education across Asia and beyond.
To start, here’s how Malaysia’s top-performing universities ranked in the QS 2026 list:
- Universiti Malaya (UM) – 58th in the world, overall score 80.1
- Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) – 126th globally, overall score 65.2
- Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) – 134th globally, overall score 64.1
- Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) – 134th globally (tied), overall score 64.1
Together, these achievements place Malaysia firmly among the most competitive higher education systems in Southeast Asia.
More universities see upward movement
The progress does not stop with the top four. Beyond them, several other Malaysian institutions also showed encouraging climbs in the QS 2026 rankings, signaling broader improvement across the nation’s university landscape, reported Relevan.
Here are the latest positions:
- Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) – 153rd (score 61.6)
- Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) – 251st (score 50.2)
- Taylor’s University – 253rd (score 50)
- UCSI University – 269th (score 48.5)
- Sunway University – 410th (score 36.7)
- Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) – 491st (score 32.6)
- INTI International University – 509th (score 31.9)
- Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) – 542nd (score 30.3)
These upward shifts suggest that improvements are happening not just at the top, but across a wider segment of Malaysia’s higher education ecosystem.
How QS measures university performance
To understand the significance of these results, it helps to look at how the QS rankings are determined.
The QS 2026 evaluation uses eight indicators, combining long-standing academic metrics with newer measures that reflect modern expectations of universities.
The main indicators include:
- Academic reputation (40%) – Global academics’ assessments of excellence
- Employer reputation (10%) – How well graduates meet industry standards
- Faculty-student ratio (20%) – Teaching quality
- Citations per faculty (20%) – Research impact
- International faculty and student ratio (5% + 5%) – Global diversity and talent attraction
On top of that, QS introduced three new indicators for the 2025/26 cycle, further expanding how university performance is measured:
- Sustainability (5%), which looks at environmental and social efforts
- Employment outcomes (5%), which reflect real-world career success
- International research network, measuring global research collaboration
Together, these metrics offer a more holistic look at how universities contribute to the modern world.
