Two-thirds of Malaysian universities drop in CWUR's Global 2000 rankings amid funding challenges
[EMBARGO JUNE 2, 12pm]KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 — Nine Malaysian universities, led by Universiti Malaya (UM), featured in the 2025 edition of the Center for World University Rankings' (CWUR) Global 2000 list, but two-thirds of them dropped in position, while three improved.
The main factor for the decline in rankings was research performance, the group said, amid intensified global competition from well-funded institutions.
'While Malaysia has nine representatives among the world's top universities, what is alarming is the slide of the nation's academic institutions due to weakening research performance and limited financial backing from the government,' said CWUR president Dr Nadim Mahassen.
'At a time when several countries are placing the development of education and science high on their agenda, Malaysia is struggling to keep pace,' he added.
'Without stronger funding and strategic planning, Malaysia risks falling further behind in the rapidly evolving global academic landscape.'
UM fell 12 spots to 411th, with declines in employability and research indicators. Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) dropped eight places to 785th, while Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) climbed ten spots to 810th, ahead of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) at 845th and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) at 853rd.
The other Malaysian universities on the Global 2000 list are Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) at 1581, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) at 1675, Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) at 1738, and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) at 1913.
The top ten universities in the CWUR rankings remain dominated by Western institutions. For the 14th consecutive year, Harvard University topped the list, followed by two other US private institutions: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford University.
The UK's University of Cambridge and University of Oxford ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, with CWUR noting they are the world's highest-rated public higher education institutions. The rest of the global top ten are private US universities: Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Yale, and the University of Chicago.
In Asia, Chinese universities are rapidly rising, which CWUR attributed to the country's sustained investment in higher education.
Most Chinese universities improved their rankings this year, led by Tsinghua University at 37th place.
All nine institutions in the C9 League, often referred to as China's Ivy League, saw improvements.
Overall, China is the most represented country in the Global 2000, with 346 universities listed, up from 324 last year.
CWUR said its Global 2000 list is the only university performance table that evaluates institutions based on quality of education, employability, faculty, and research without relying on surveys or university data submissions.
The firm said it uses seven carefully calibrated performance indicators across four areas to create the rankings.
For the 2025 edition, 74 million outcome-based data points were analyzed.
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