By Ooi Li Hsien

KUALA LUMPUR: The recently released Times Higher Education -QS World University Rankings 2008 saw University Malaya rising to rank at 230 from the previous 246.

Acting University Malaya (UM) Vice-Chancellor Prof Datuk Muhamad Rasat Muhamad was quoted by The Star saying that UM's improvement proved that the university's strategic plan, implemented two years ago, was showing results.

"UM fully supports the ministry in realising the national aspiration of having one or more of Malaysia's universities in the top 200 of the 'THE-QS Ranking' by 2010," he said.

The country's oldest university remains as the highest ranked local university while other local universities saw an increase in their standing as well.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) rose from 309 to 250 while Universitu Putra Malaysia (UPM) stood at 320 compared to last year's 364. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) also was found to have risen to 356 compares to 415 last year.

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), however, saw a decline despite being awarded the APEX university status by the Ministry of Higher Education not long ago. They dropped 6 spots to stand at 313 from their previous 307 standing.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin is proud of the achievement by the local institutions.

It is something to be proud of that a number of Malaysian insitutions have attained such high positions in the rankings. I believe that our local universities will improve even further in the years to come," he told The Star.

The top ranked universities remains to be from the United States with the University of Harvard and the University of Yale taking the first and second positions. The University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford from the United Kingdom took third and fourth place respectively.