New rating system proposed for universities in Southeast Asia

A proposal to develop a new rating system specifically for universities in Southeast Asia was presented to education leaders from around the region in Kuala Lumpur this week.

The system, designed to provide universities in developing countries with an alternative to existing ranking systems, is being developed by the Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang in collaboration with the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation in Bangkok.

The ratings proposal was presented to higher education officials and university leaders of various Southeast Asian countries, including Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar.

Morshidi Sirat, the director of the National Higher Education Research Institute at the Universiti Sains Malaysia who initiated the proposal, said rankings systems such as the Times Higher Education - QS World University Rankings and those produced by Shanghai Jiao Tong University did not cater for most universities in developing countries.

Professor Morshidi said universities in developing countries needed a more accurate measure of whether they were meeting the needs of their students and communities.

'I'm sure they are looking for a kind of system that acknowledges the role and function of the universities that are outside the normal status-seeking kind of universities,' he said. 'We have to come up with another system that can provide them with information on where they are in terms of how they fulfil the aspirations of the community.