Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has congratulated Universiti Malaya (UM) after it became the first Malaysian university to break into the world’s top 200 in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2027.
UM was ranked 194th globally, marking a significant improvement from the 351-400 band in the 2023 rankings. THE confirmed that Malaysia had entered the global top 200 for the first time in the latest edition.
In a social media post, Anwar described the achievement as historic and said it reflected UM’s excellence in teaching and research while demonstrating the ability of Malaysian higher education institutions to compete with leading universities globally.
He said the accomplishment should be strengthened by cultivating a vibrant culture of knowledge, intellectual freedom and research that responds to the needs of society and the country.
“Universities must produce a generation that is intellectually sharp, firmly grounded in values and morals, and courageous in exploring new ideas,” he said.
Anwar added that UM’s achievement should serve as a catalyst for the university and Malaysia’s wider higher education sector to continuously improve quality and elevate the standing of knowledge and scholarship.
The THE World University Rankings 2027 cover 2,297 universities worldwide, placing UM at approximately the top 8.5% globally.
The 2027 rankings also showed a broader improvement among Asian universities, with THE highlighting stronger performances by institutions across the region.
