Universiti Sains Malaysia is a public institution in Gelugor, Malaysia. It was established as the second university in Malaysia in 1969 and was known as Universiti Pulau Pinang. The university has a total enrollment of nearly 30,000 students with more than 4,000 international students. The institution offers undergraduate and graduate programs across 17 schools in the main campus, 6 schools at the Engineering campus and 3 schools at the Health campus. The university is a key institution to study in Malaysia for offering programs in Natural Sciences, Applied Sciences, Medical and Health Sciences, Social Sciences, Education, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Building Science and Technology, etc. Some of the top ranked subject areas include Pharmacy, Engineering, Architecture, Education, Energy and Fuels, Business, Arts and Humanities, etc.

Recognized as one of the top public institutions in Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia has been ranked in the top 150 institutions in the QS World University Rankings in both 2021 and 2022. It is also ranked 34th in QS Asian University Rankings. In the THE Impact Rankings 2021, Universiti Sains Malaysia has bagged the 39th rank with an overall score of 90.5. The best ranks of the institution were in good health and well-being, no poverty, partnerships for the goals and peace, justice and strong institutions.

Universiti Sains Malaysia Ranking Highlights

The highlights of the rankings of Universiti Sains Malaysia are given below:

  • Ranked 147th in QS World University Rankings 2022.
  • On the 580th position in the U.S. News Best Global Universities 2021.
  • In the 601-800th bracket in World University Rankings 2021 provided by THE.

Universiti Sains Malaysia World Rankings by QS

Universiti Sains Malaysia ranked #142 in the QS World University Rankings 2021. Recently, QS also published rankings for 2022 wherein the university ranked #147 with an overall score of 51. The university has been in the top 200 universities in the world since 2020. QS ranks 1,000 universities around the world on the basis of 6 indicators. The weightage of each of the 6 indicators are as follows:

  • 40% of academic reputation
  • 20% of faculty-student ratio
  • 20% of citations per faculty
  • 10% of employer review
  • 10% of international orientation

The scores of the university on each of the metrics used by QS Top Universities are given in the table below:

Ranking Criteria Score
Overall 51
Academic Reputation 58.9
Citations per Faculty 16
Employer Reputation 63
Faculty Student Ratio 69.6
International Faculty Ratio 16
International Student Ratio 60.6

The graph below depicts the ranking trend of the Universiti Sains Malaysia in the QS World University Rankings between 2012 and 2022:

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Universiti Sains Malaysia World Rankings by THE

In THE World University Rankings 2021, Universiti Sains Malaysia ranks in the 601-800th band. The rankings are determined on the basis of 5 criteria that include teaching, research, citations, industry income and international outlook. The individual scores of the university on various indicators are given in the table below:

Indicator Scores
Teaching 34.7
Research 23.3
Citations 32.2
Industry Income 45.0
International Outlook 53.7

Universiti Sains Malaysia World Rankings by US News

In the U.S. News Best Global Universities 2021, Universiti Sains Malaysia secured the 580th position. The global score of the university is 48.2. There are 13 indicators of excellence used by the U.S. News to determine the global score and rank of an institution. The university has a good regional research reputation and ranked #34 in this category. The table below shows the ranks of the university on the 13 indicators of excellence in 2021:

Global Score 48.2
Global research reputation #199
Regional research reputation #34
Publications #474
Books #671
Conferences #103
Normalized citation impact #1078
Total citations #541
Number of publications that are among the 10% most cited #687
Percentage of total publications that are among the 10% most cited #1416
International collaboration - relative to country #1021
International collaboration #547
Number of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited #602
Percentage of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited #998

Universiti Sains Malaysia Rankings in Asia

Universiti Sains Malaysia ranks among the top institutions in Asia in the latest QS, THE and U.S. News rankings for 2021. In the QS Asian University Rankings 2021, the university ranks 34th. It has secured the 109th place in the U.S. News Best Global Universities in Asia. THE Asia University Rankings 2021 has placed it at the 163rd position based on 13 performance indicators with core criteria being teaching, research, international outlook and knowledge transfer. The rankings of the university in Asia are summarized in the table below:

Category 2021 Rank
QS Asian University Rankings 2021 #34
U.S. News Best Global Universities in Asia 2021 #109
THE Asia University Rankings 2021 #163

Universiti Sains Malaysia Subject-wise Ranking by QS

QS WUR Ranking by Subject ranked 30 programs offered by Universiti Sains Malaysia. Pharmacy and Pharmacology outperformed the others and bagged the 75th place in 2021. Among the other ranked subjects, Architecture and Built Environment and Chemical Engineering ranked in the #101-150 category. A number of other study areas such as English Language and Literature, Education, Communication, Geography, Statistics, Economics, etc. ranked in the top 200 category. The table below represents the top 10 subjects ranked in the QS WUR Ranking by Subject 2021:

Subject 2021 Rank
Pharmacy and Pharmacology #75
Architecture and Built Environment #101-150
Chemical Engineering #101-150
English Language and Literature #151-200
Education and Training #151-200
Communication and Media Studies #151-200
Geography #151-200
Statistics and Operational Research #151-200
Environmental Sciences #151-200
Economics #151-200

Universiti Sains Malaysia Subject-wise Ranking by US News

In the U.S. News and World Report 2021, 15 subjects taught by Universiti Sains Malaysia have been ranked. On the top of the list is Chemical Engineering ranked 114th in the world followed by Agricultural Sciences ranked 204th and Engineering at the 215th position. Other subjects ranked in the top 250 are Pharmacology and Toxicology, Energy and Fuels and Biotechnology and Applied Microbiology. The subjects with the top rankings are given below:

Subject 2021 Rank
Chemical Engineering #114
Agricultural Sciences #204
Engineering #215
Pharmacology and Toxicology #215
Energy and Fuels #226
Biotechnology and Applied Microbiology #248
Materials Science #283
Chemistry #296
Clinical Medicine #324
Social Sciences and Public Health #365

Universiti Sains Malaysia Subject-wise Ranking by THE

THE has ranked 8 disciplines taught by Universiti Sains Malaysia. Out of the 8 ranked disciplines, Education was on the top ranked #126-150 followed by Business and Economics ranked #201-250. Other subjects ranked include Arts and Humanities and Health in the top 400, Social Sciences in the top 500, Computer Science in the top 600 and Engineering and Life Sciences in the top 800. THE subject rankings for 2021 are tabulated below:

Subject 2021 Rank
Education #126-150
Business and Economics #201-250
Arts and Humanities #301-400
Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health #301-400
Social Sciences #401-500
Computer Science #501-600
Life Sciences #601-800
Engineering #601-800

Universiti Sains Malaysia Miscellaneous Ranking

Some miscellaneous rankings of Universiti Sains Malaysia are discussed below:

  • Remarkably, Universiti Sains Malaysia ranks 3rd in Malaysia in the U.S. News Best Global Universities in Malaysia 2021.
  • It has bagged the =39th position out of 1,117 institutions ranked in THE Impact Rankings 2021.
  • Moreover, it was placed among the 151-200th bracket in THE Young University Rankings 2019.
  • In 2019, the university ranked among the top 141-150th in THE Asia Pacific Rankings.

Universiti Sains Malaysia is one of the four Higher Learning Institutions recognized as a Research Intensive University by the Ministry of Higher Education. It is the first institution to be nominated by the Malaysian government for the Accelerated Programme for Excellence (APEX) that helps tertiary institutions to achieve world class status in a shorter period of time. There are 17 research centers at the institution with key areas of research being Molecular Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Applied Sciences, Natural Sciences, etc. The university started with a batch of only 57 students and has now expanded to more than 20,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The progress of the university has also been justified through its global, national and subject rankings.