I ~ Tb,e Rating Systemfor ~Malaysian Higher

I Education andMalaysian Research

I

AssessmentInstrument measurehow well highereducationinstitutions aredoing in the country.

By KAREN CHAPMANeducate@thestar.com.my

GOOD news was in store withthe recent release of theRating System for Malaysian

Higher Education Institutions 2011(Setara).A total of 35 higher education

institutions obtained Tier Five orexcellent status.This is almost double the number -

of institutions in the last ratingexercise where 18 higher educationinstitutions achieved the Tier Fivestatus under Setara 2009.

Started in 2007, Setara assessesthe teaching and learning aspects ofparticipating institutions as it is the •-most common denominator for allhigher education institutions.

It consists of six tiers, rangingfrom Tier Six (outstanding), TierFive (excellent), Tier Four (verygood), Tier Three (good), Tier Two(satisfactory) amd Tier One (weak).

A total of 54 universities and uni-colleges participated in thebut two institutions were

~:'lI'IlJ.UUt:u as there was insufficientto be rated.

results show that outuniversities and univer-

rated, 35 institutionsa Tier Five category rep-

resenting approximately 67%of the

Excellent··accomplishment

"

High five: SunwayUniversityculinarystudents and chef lecturers baked a cake to celebrate the institution'sTierFivestatus under Setara 2011.

total population of universities anduniversity colleges rated; 16 institu-tions in Tier Four, approximately31%,and the remaining one, in TierThree, that is, about 2%.

No universities and universitycolleges obtained Tiers One, Two orSix status.

The 35 which obtained Tier Fivestatus comprise 13 public universi-ties while the rest are private uni-versities and university colleges.These include the five research

universities -Universiti Malaya(UM),Universiti KebangsaanMalaysia (UKM),Universiti Putra

2012 with data from2011. _Higher Education Minister Datuk

Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin whoannounced the results, said he was 'happy to note the improvementsand achievements of all institutioris

Malaysia (UPM),Universiti SainsMalaysia (USM)and UniversitiTeknologi Malaysia while pri-vate institutions included NilaiUniversity and Sunway University.(see table on next page)

The rating exercise was carriedout between March 2011 and July > SEE NEXT PAGE

> FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

"'~"'.nn".".~n,."university's rapidUMhas

increasing thestaff and stu-

,QRi79Irtl\t:Yk€!vareas to beits progress

hprnmina one of the topby 2015," he said.

Prof Mohd Hamdi said the uni-versity's next challenge was to raisethe bar higher by becoming the firstpublic university to obtain Tier Sixstatus.

UKMvice-chancellor ProfTanSri Dr Sharifah Hapsah Syed HasanShahabudin congratulated staff forworking hard to maintain its TierFive status.

"However, there is room forimprovement and we must resolveto work harder to achieve the goalsof the institution as well as thegreater goals of the nation," she said.,Rated not ranked

Setara is a ratings exercise which.assesses how each institution hasachieved its.benchmark of indica-tors.

Similar to the instrument usedduring the previous rating exercisein 2009, Mohamed Khaled saidSetara 2011 was divided into threemain domains namely input (20%),process (40%),and output (40%)

- which involves 26 criteria and 62indicators such as the ratio of aca-demic staff to students, percentageof PhD qualified academic staff,employment rate and graduate sat-isfaction.

"It does not give a ranking orposition on how an institution iscompared to another," he said.

Asked whether the ministry willconsider carrying out a rankingsexercise such as those by the TimesHigher Education World UniversityRankings or the QSWorld UniversityRankings, he said rating was moreuseful for quality enhancementbecause its purpose was to maintainquality assur~mce rather than as a

competition between the institu-tions.

In addition, Setara would contin-ue to be a rating system for teach-ing and learning, and to encourageinternal adjustments and improve-ments by institutions.

UPM vice-chancellor Datuk DrRadin Umar Radin Sohadi said theSetara and the Malaysia ResearchAssessment Instrument (MyRA)measure the fundamentals in highereducation where data is both veri-fied and audited:

"Hence it is more robust andreliable than rankings. Setara meas-ures graduate attributes, graduateemployability, employer satisfactionand student satisfaction in the learn-ing environment while MyRAlooksat various facfors including impactfactors, citations, intellectual proper-ties and impact to humankind," hesaid.

Participation in Setara remainsvoluntary, added Mohamed Khaled.

On whether the ministry wouldlook into compelling all higher edu-cation institutions to take part inSetara in the future, he said it couldbecome mandatory.

Most of the higher educationinstitutions would advertise theirrespective Setara ratings in variousforms such as during the ministry'sannual national higher educationcarnival and other promotionalplatforms.

''This in itself will encouragehigher education institutions toparticipate in Setara as in future, theodd ones out will be those whichcannot quote or advertise their rat-ing," he said.The ministry, he added, would

also recommend Tier Five Setara-rated institutions to the PublicService Department so that its spon-sored students could be sent there.

Mohamed Khaled said that theMalaysian Qualifications Agency(MQA) carried out the Setara exer-cise.

The MQA,he added, was alsoworking on a Discipline-BasedRating System (D-Setara) whichwould be based on four disciplinesfor all higher education institu-tions. More information on D-Setarawould be revealed next January, hesaid.

Open and distance-learning insti-tutions were separately assessedusing an instrument that was adapt-ed from the Setara 2011 instrumentto capture the peculiarities of theopen and distance learning mode.

Open University Malaysia presi-dent Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Anuwar

Go for ratings:MohamedKhaled says-rating is moreuseful forqualityenhancementbecause itspurpose is tomaintain quality.assurancerather than as acompetitionbetween theinstitutions.

Assessment: Dr Radin Umar saysSetara and MyRA measure thefundamentals in higher education.

Ali said he was pleased that theindicators for measurement havebeen improved from the previousrating exercise to take into accountopen and distance learning institu-tions.

"The indicators now take intoaccount our blended approach aswe are not like normal universities,"he said.Research fundamentals

Moharned.Khaled also announcedthe results of MyRAwhere universi-ties are given "star ratings" for theirresearch, development and com-mercialisation efforts.

He said UM, UKM,UPM and USMreceived the top rating of six starsunder MyRA.

Similar to Setara, he said MyRAwhich was conducted by the minis-try's Higher Education Department,was not compulsory but all highereducation institutions are encour-aged to take part.

"It is good if all public universi-ties could participate and assesstheir strengths and weaknesses,and potential in terms of researchand development This is importantas many of the public universities,excluding research universities,have the potential to develop theirresearch capacity.

"We're not going to force Setaraor MyRAon any university, butthere will be policy implicationsfrom the results," he added.

Incentives for more researchfunding is based on the MyRA2011assessmentTwo non-research universities

which were rated five stars underMyRA,namely Universiti TeknologiPetronas and Universiti [slamAntarabangsa Malaysia, will receivea total ofRM10mil in researchgrants to enhance their research anddevelopment activities in 2013.

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'It your answers to theseques- , hospitalisation, term life andtionsare positive, then you may personal accident insurancebe the candidate that we are' 'coverage, and additional EPFlooking for. -":., contributions as a retirement

In addition'ro the list above, ' benefitif you're a sodat media addict, Impress us! E-mail in yourenjoy working with teenagers resume with full contact detailsand teachers,;m~eting academ- and a recent passport-sizedics as wellas,'~rganised in' photograph to chelsea@thestar.how you thih~~d carry out com,my and cc recruitment@your tasks; th~'Qation's larg-. ." thestar.com.my.est English daily.seeking to fill' Closing date: Nov 30. Onlythis vital post atMenara Star; shortlisted candidates will bePetaling jaya, ~uld like to hear notified.. . ,"'"

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Tier 6 (Outstanding)

Private institutions

Rating System for MalaysianHigher Education Institutions (Setara) 2011

Universiti Islam Antara-bangsa MalaysiaUniversiti KebangsaanMalaysiaUniversiti MalayaUniversiti Malaysia PahangUniversiti Malaysia PerlisUniversiti Putra Malaysiauniversif Sains IslamMalaysiaUniversiti Sains MalaysiaUniversiti TeknikalMalaysia MelakaUniversiti TeknologiMalaysiaUniversiti Teknologi M~raUniversiti Tun Hussein OnnMalaysiaUniversiti Utara Malaysia

Universiti MalaysiaKelantanUniversiti Malaysia SabahUniversiti MalaysiaSarawakUniversiti MalaysiaTerengganuUniversiti PendidikanSultan IdrisKuala Lumpur Metropoli-tan University College

Universiti Sultan ZainalAbidin

Source: Higher Education Ministry

Public institutions

Tier 5 (Excellent)

• Asia Pacific University ofTechnology arid~ Innovation• Binary University of Management and• Entrepreneurship• Curtin University ofTechnology• Sarawak Campus· Cyberjaya University College of Medical SciencesInternational Medical UniversityInfrastructure University Kuala Lumpur

• Managemerlt and Science University• Monash University Sunway Campus: Multimedia University

• Nilai University.OpeD UniversityMalaysia

• SEGi University, .Sun\NayUniversity• Swinburne University ofTechnology• Sarawak Campus•.Taylor's UniversityUniversiti Kuala Lumpur

f.Universiti Teknologi PetronasUniversiti Tenaga NasionalUniversiti Tun Abdul RazakUniversiti Tunku Abdul RahmanUl1iversity of Nottingham (Malaysia Campus)

· Wawasan Open University

Tier 4 (Very Good)- Aimst UniversityHELPUniversityINTI International University

, Kolej Universiti Insaniah• Kolej Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Selangor• Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia• TATi University College• Twintech International University College, ofTechnology

• UCSI UniversityUniversiti Industri Selangor

Tier 3 (Good)

Tier 2 (Satisfactory)

Tier 1 (Weak)

Prof Mohd Hamdi said the six starrating under MyRAwas a testamentof all the hard work by UM's man-agement, staff and fellow research-ers.

"UM has always prided itselfonthe quality of its researchers and we

are in the midst of increasing thenumber of research activities andcommercialisation through the for-mation of a UM Centre of Innovationand Commercialisation, UM HighImpact Research and eight researchclusters," he said.