Kasetsart University (KU), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB), and University of the Philippines (UP) are ranked among the world's top 100 universities in the fields of Agriculture, Forestry, and Education, outdoing more than 2,000 other universities around the globe, according to the latest review by the QS World University Rankings 2013/14.
KU landed the 33rd spot in the field agriculture and forestry while UPM, IPB and UP belonged to the 51-100 bracket. The University of California, Davis, United States of America (USA); Wageningen University, The Netherlands; and Cornell University, USA landed the top three spots in the said category, which ranks universities based on nine indicators, namely: academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, citations per paper, papers per faculty, proportion of international faculty, proportion of international students, proportion of inbound exchange students, and proportion of outbound exchange students.
There are at least two essential factors affecting the great achievement of KU, namely: (1) academic reputation, and (2) employer reputation. Based on KU’s newsletter Nonsee, KU views the international reputation and recognition to be derived from the contribution of all faculty members, staff, students, and also alumni who have been working hard for several years. It is also the driving force for KU to work tirelessly as a think-tank of the country, where knowledge has been accumulated and initiated, while innovation has been disseminated to the people and the society for the betterment of the next generation.
On the other hand, UPM Vice Chancellor, Prof. Datuk Dr. Mohd. Fauzi Ramlan said that UPM’s achievements, attributed to the outstanding performance of the Faculty of Agriculture, Faculty of Forestry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Education and other related institutes, manifest UPM’s successful efforts in developing an international reputation for academic standards and quality of graduates.
"The QS rankings of top universities use a variety of performance indicators; academic and employer reputation, faculty to student ratio, citations per faculty, international students, and international faculty. The improved performance not only reflects the growing reputation of the respective faculties and institutes resulting from their researches, publications, as well as their academics network with their counterparts nationally and globally, but also contributes to the latest rankings.” Dr. Fauzi affirmed.
Dr. Fauzi said UPM has made some improvements in its internationalization activities that include lecturers and students mobility programmes, researches and publications, recognitions and citations in high-impact journals, and book publishing for international markets.
"Emphasis on the quality of academic researches, as well as the number of publications and citations in leading journals and H-index have also increased in recent years. In the area of teaching, the revised curriculum focuses not only on compulsory courses but also elective courses in which to improve graduates’ savoir faire," he added.
On the other hand, Dr. Rex Victor O. Cruz, UPLB Chancellor said that under his leadership, the University is intensely pursuing programs and initiatives to regain its premier position as a recognized educational institution in the region. This includes, among others, upgrading of its facilities, aggressive promotion of its academic and research programs in the international arena, and continuous capacity building of its faculty and staff.
