Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) continues to rise in the 2019 Times Higher Education (THE) Emerging Economies University Rankings. It climbed up 17 places and is now ranked 60th.
The 60th position is the institution's highest achievement in the THE Emerging Economies University Rankings. Since its debut in 2017, the university has improved drastically by advancing 31 places in the rankings.
According to its Vice Chancellor, Prof Dr Mohamed Ibrahim Abdul Mutalib, the result shows that UTP is ranked second after Universiti Malaya. It is the best performing university in research among Malaysian universities with the score of 30.7.
"UTP has always placed an emphasis on research and innovation (R&I), and the goal is to become an internationally recognised partner of choice for industry and respected scientific community by the year 2025.
"The university's R&I was established to drive, facilitate and promote the university's research and development. Our R&I activities are focused on two areas which are Smart Communities and Energy Sustainability. We have six research institutes across niche disciplines for the benefit of the industry and the nation as a whole," he said.
UTP also wants to ready its graduates to fit with the Industry 4.0 and to be at the forefront of emerging technology breakthroughs in fields like nanotechnology, artificial intelligence robotics and the Internet of Things. To meet the needs of this complex future, UTP has created roadmaps for changing technology and has already introduced new components into its academic programme.
Furthermore, the university will ensure that its campus will continuously evolved to match the needs of the existing and future generations of students.
"This achievement is a tribute to the hard work, support and commitment demonstrated by the entire university community, our partners and collaborators as well as PETRONAS. This is indeed a shared success as UTP has been persistent in ensuring focused execution in realising its vision and aspiration.
"We will continue with our emphasis on strategies leading towards academic leadership, research stewardship, students' experience and operational experience in our quest to become globally prominent," he said.