USM granted APEX University status

Universiti Sains Malaysia beat a field of eight other higher learning centers to emerge as the Higher Education Ministry's choice for Apex university. As a USM student, i'm very proud listened this news.... PUTRAJAYA: Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has been granted apex status and hundreds of millions of ringgit in additional funding to transform it into Malaysia's first world-class university. Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said that both quantitative and qualitative criteria were used to select USM under the accelerated programme for excellence (apex). 'The selection committee evaluated each university's state of readiness, transformation plan and preparedness for change. 'After a thorough evaluation, the committee decided that only one university truly met all the criteria, namely USM,'' said Khaled Wednesday in a press conference at his ministry. The Cabinet agreed to the decision at its meeting on Aug 27.

The university given apex status is one that has the greatest potential among Malaysian universities to be world-class, and as such, would be given additional assistance to compete with top-ranked global institutions, added Khaled. With apex status, USM will be expected to move up the World University Rankings with a target of top 200 in five years' time and top 100, if not top 50, by 2020, he said. In last year’s Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings, Universiti Malaya (UM) was the highest ranked Malaysian university at 246, followed by USM at 307, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) at 309 and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) at 364."