SETARA ‘Excellent’ rating affirms Curtin Malaysia’s commitment to quality education

Miri – 21 November 2017 – Curtin University, Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia), Curtin University’s largest international campus and global hub in Asia, has retained its ‘Tier 5’ or ‘Excellent’ rating under Malaysia’s latest Rating System for Higher Education Institutions (SETARA 2017), affirming its commitment to quality education.

This is the fourth consecutive time Curtin Malaysia has achieved a Tier 5 rating since the first rating exercise in 2009 and the first time under the Mature University category (for universities more than 15 years old). A total of 26 universities were ranked under the mature category where nine achieved 5-star rating.

Curtin Malaysia’s Pro Vice-Chancellor, President and Chief Executive Professor Jim Mienczakowski said achieving an excellent rating four times in a row reflected Curtin Malaysia’s longstanding reputation for innovation and quality in teaching, research and student experience, as well as its staff calibre and quality and employability of its graduates.

“Overall, our results in the rating exercise are very positive with improved performance in a number of areas, an outcome that reflects our strong profile and performance as a leading tertiary institution in Malaysia,” he commented.

Professor Mienczakowski congratulated the staff and students of Curtin Malaysia involved in the SETARA exercise for their efforts in achieving the excellent outcome.

He said the achievement was one that all students, staff and alumni of Curtin Malaysia should be proud of and urged them to work ever harder to continually raise its standing both nationally and globally.

In addition to the SETARA ranking, Curtin Malaysia earlier this year retained its self-accreditation status first awarded by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) in 2010. It was also given a Tier 5 – Excellent rating in the D-SETARA discipline-based rating system for its engineering programmes in 2013.

71 out of 105 universities and university colleges took part in SETARA 2017, a rating mechanism introduced by the MQA to measure the performance of undergraduate teaching and learning in universities and university colleges in Malaysia.

SETARA 2017 saw a major realignment of the assessment metric to ensure higher education institutions have strong fundamentals to deliver the three core functions of Teaching and Learning, Research and Innovation, and Service to Community and Industry.

The new rating system is in line with the Malaysian Higher Education Blueprint, a 10-year strategic plan to create a higher education system that ranks amongst the world’s leading higher education systems and enables Malaysia to compete in the global economy.

Professor Mienczakowski added that Curtin Malaysia’s achievement in the SETARA complements the excellent achievements Curtin University as a whole has attained in the various global university rankings this year, including ranking in the top 200 universities in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2017, placing it in the top one percent of universities worldwide.

Curtin University has progressed more rapidly than any other Australian institution in the highly regarded rankings, and this achievement follows the university’s climb in the equally prestigious QS World University Rankings 2017-18, rising to 262 in the world.

Professor Mienczakowski said connections and collaborations across Curtin’s campuses in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Dubai are becoming more embedded in their daily practices, including collaborative research, development and internationalisation of courses, and bi-directional delivery of course material between campuses. This will inevitably enhance its global footprint and standing amongst the world’s universities.

Curtin Malaysia rated ‘Tier 5’ or ‘Excellent’ under SETARA 2017.

Rating affirms Curtin Malaysia’s reputation as a leading higher education institution in Malaysia, says Professor Jim Mienczakowski.