Curtin global university rankings an assurance of a quality education

Miri – 3 August 2015 – As the largest international campus of Curtin University in Western Australia, Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) prides itself on offering identical academic programmes, an undifferentiated student learning experience, and a shared commitment to excellence in education and research as its Australian parent.

This means that the international recognition Curtin University has received through the various global university ranking systems, in many respects also applies to Curtin Sarawak.

Curtin Sarawak has in its own right gained recognition through its ratings in Malaysia’s SETARA, D-SETARA and MYRA rating systems. It is also one of only eight universities granted self-accreditation status by the Malaysian Ministry of Education.

Ultimately, such recognition is an assurance that the education offered at both campuses is of the highest quality.

With over 50,000 students from across the globe and campuses across Australia and Asia, Curtin University is one of Australia’s largest and most multicultural universities. It recently ranked equal 10th in the Times Higher Education (THE) list of the top 100 most international universities, and is now recognised as being in the top two percent of universities in the world in the highly regarded Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).

The ARWU is widely recognised as the most relevant research-oriented university ranking system worldwide and Curtin’s strong showing in the rankings is a reflection of the focus the university has put, over a period of time, on increasing its research performance. Curtin has also improved its position in the latest University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP), which is also driven largely by research performance.

This is also manifested at Curtin Sarawak, which according to its Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Jim Mienczakowski has a research portfolio that reflects the mission of the campus to focus on programmes of research that are relevant to Malaysia.

He said Curtin Sarawak is rapidly ramping up its already strong research capacities in its Faculty of Engineering and Science, Faculty of Business and Humanities, Curtin Sarawak Graduate School and Curtin Sarawak Research Institute. This includes the development of a BioValley Research Centre in collaboration with the Sarawak state government, and new facilities for teaching and postgraduate work to meet the particular research needs of government and local industry.

Curtin University was awarded five stars overall in the 2015 QS Stars University Ratings based on its performance across eight assessed categories including teaching, employability, internationalisation, facilities, innovation, specialist criteria and inclusiveness, and research. This follows an equally strong debut in the 2014 QS Stars ratings.

Most recently, it featured in 19 out of 36 subjects in the 2015 QS World University Rankings by Subject, which rank universities at individual subject levels based on academic reputation, employer reputation and research impact.

Those wishing to enrol at Curtin Sarawak should note that Curtin ranks in the world’s top 100 for chemical engineering and earth and marine sciences, and top 150 for electrical and electronic engineering and communication and media studies. It is also in the top 200 for civil engineering, computer science and information systems, environmental sciences, accounting and finance, and business and management studies; and top 300 in mechanical engineering. Curtin Sarawak offers a range of Curtin undergraduate courses in these disciplines, as well as postgraduate courses by coursework or research in many of them.

Curtin University’s outstanding results in the rankings has been welcomed at Curtin Sarawak as they contribute to the strength and attractiveness of the range of programmes it offers, particularly as such rankings are very important considerations for parents and students in Malaysia and other countries.

Professor Mienczakowski said parents and students nowadays require more detailed relevant advisory information to make informed decisions, and the collection of independent and objective data on the performance of universities across a range of measures, such as quality and delivery of programmes, entry standards, student satisfaction, affordable tuition fees and high graduate employment rates, can be of great help to them.

On the home front, Curtin Sarawak retained its ‘Tier 5’ or ‘Excellent’ rating under the 2013 Rating System for Malaysian Higher Education Institutions or Sistem Penarafan Institusi Pengajian Tinggi (SETARA ‘13). It achieved similar ratings in the two previous SETARA rating exercises carried out by the Malaysian Qualification Agency in 2009 and 2011.

“We are very pleased at achieving the rating as it reaffirms our status as a leading higher education institution in Malaysia,” said Professor Mienczakowski.

He added that the SETARA rating, along with a similar rating in the D-SETARA discipline-based rating system for its engineering programmes, is testimony to the quality and excellence of Curtin Sarawak’s teaching and learning, academic programmes, research output and staff calibre, as well as to the quality of its graduates and their employability.

Curtin Sarawak’s August (second semester) intake is still in progress and students can apply for its foundation or undergraduate programmes. Classes for undergraduate programmes will commence on 3 August and foundation programmes on 17 August 2015.

Curtin University in the top two percent of universities in the world.

Curtin Sarawak Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Jim Mienczakowski.