![[UPDATED] UTP makes history as first Malaysian university in Asia's top 50](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.nst.com.my%2Fimages%2Farticles%2FNSTUTP_1745459989.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
[UPDATED] UTP makes history as first Malaysian university in Asia's top 50
KUALA LUMPUR: Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) has made history as the first Malaysian university to enter the top 50 of the Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Rankings 2025.
It rose to a joint 43rd place with Hanyang University, according to THE's website.
Twenty-three local universities were listed in the ranking, with some making improvements compared to the previous year.
Universiti Malaya moved up one rank to 64th place, while Sunway University made a huge leap from being previously ranked in the 201–250 band to 141st place.
Other than Universiti Malaya, another two public universities also made some improvements, which saw Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah rise to 163rd from 166th and Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris rise to 173rd from 180th.
However, many prominent local universities experienced opposite results, as two public universities saw a major drop in the rankings. Universiti Putra Malaysia fell to 132nd from 102nd, while Universiti Utara Malaysia dropped to 127th from 110th in 2024.
Meanwhile, some other universities fell in the ranking, including Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, which dropped from 85th to 86th, and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, which fell two spots to 103rd. It shared the position with Universiti Sains Malaysia, which was 99th last year.
Multimedia University, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu were all ranked in the 301–350 band, while Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman sat in the 351–400 band.
Sitting in the 401–500 band were Management and Science University and Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, while Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin and Universiti Teknologi Mara all ranked in the 501–600 band.
Finally, three other local universities sat outside the top 600 universities, including Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka.
For 2025, an additional 114 universities were included in the ranking, bringing the total to 853 universities across 31 countries and regions in Asia. The universities have been evaluated based on 18 performance indicators such as research quality, international outlook, teaching and industry.
In terms of the number of universities included in the 13th edition of THE's Asia University Rankings, Japan topped the chart with 119 universities, followed by India with 107, China with 94, Turkey with 91 and Iran with 81.
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