Let me elaborate my experience with MU or Malaya U. In the early 80s, I studied mechanical engineering in a Polytechnic in London. Later, I went on to study Law in a university in Wales. In the early 1990s, when I was back in Malaysia, I visited MU during an open day there. Out of curiosity, I checked out their engineering stand and talked to the students manning the booth there. I was shocked to discover that they had no training or access to CAD/CAM programs and worse still, no access to computers. They told me that they had to group together to buy a personal computer to be shared amongst the group and buy pirated CAD/CAM programs to learn on their own. 10 years previously, in a polytechnic (not a University mind you) in London, I was already proficient with CAD/CAM programs, with access to dumb terminals connected to a mini computer, where we learned to write programs in machine code and Fortran.

Surprisingly enough, a few months later, still in the 1990s, during a radio interview with the secretary of the Institute of Engineers Malaysia, I managed to get through and asked him why was it that our so called premier university, Malaya U, were so backward that they could not provide or train their engineering students in CAD/CAM programs, when 10 years earlier, I was already being trained to do so in London. That stupid secretary's reply was that MU was training their students for local Malaysian conditions and standard, which were not as advanced or required to be as advanced as Western countries!

When I informed an uncle of mine who was a London graduate from the 1960s and had had his own civil engineering firm in KL since the 1970s, he was shocked and said what absolute rubbish! All the main engineering firms during the 1990s already had computers running CAD programs and were hiring engineers who knew how to use them in order to stay on top! Our Malaysian engineering firms are quite capable and can compete on the international stage, given the opportunity. My uncle was absolutely pissed off and had a word with the secretary. Considering he was one of the senior civil engineers in the country, who had designed some of the iconic landmarks in KL, I think the secretary lived to regret his reply.

In the late 1990s, I applied to do a law PHD at Malaya U on a part time basis. Two things surprised me. Firstly, there were only 2 PHD students. Me and another student, who happened to be a law lecturer at MU. She went on to head the law department after obtaining her PHD at MU. Secondly, during my interview and subsequent time at MU, everybody, from the Deputy Dean of the Law Department who interviewed me, the librarian, my PHD supervisor and a few others, asked me why I didn't do my PHD at an overseas university. They said that overseas universities had better lecturers, research facilities and prestige, compared to MU. That was what they told me. 

In other words, they were running down MU even though they were worked there.  Shows you the confidence that they had in MU.  They were so surprised that I wanted to take my PHD at MU. I told them that I had a legal practice to take care and I couldn't spend 3 years overseas to do a PHD which I only wanted to do for interest.

So, you can see, my bias against MU. Things may have changed a lot at MU since the 1990s. Or it may have not. All I know is that MU during the 1990s were not as up todate as my poly in London, 10 years earlier in the 1980s. Further, their own staff considered their own qualifications, well at least at PHD level, to be inferior to those of overseas universities. Well considering, the consistent drop in ranking of MU in QS world rankings, I am not surprised!

You have to compare the universities because you have to rank them with the best in order to improve, not to go backwards.  Look at NUS, it was a branch of the University of Malaya in Singapore and look where it is now?  24 in QS World Rankings and the top University in Asia.

Do you know, when I was in school during the 1970s, my parents managed to get me a MU student to come and tutor me in Maths.  All my friends were envious because he was a MU student.  Up to the 1970s, MU students were the creme de la creme of students in Malaysia and Singapore!  Not just Malaysia.  They were the elite.  We used to look at them in awe?

However, due to the education quotas for Bumiputras, the dumbing down of the syllabus and the tertiary education system in general, in order to make it easier for Malays to qualify for local public universities, it all went downhill from the 1980s onwards.  Nowadays, we look down at MU graduates because they can't seem to string an English sentence together without killing it.  As for MU graduates, well, those that I've met always seem to tell me that overseas degrees are far better than theirs.  They seem to be good only for being hard working and diligent employees if they are non-Malays and nothing much else if they are Malays, and I've employed both.  Hell, kindergarten students during my time had better English than MU graduates!  I am angry because of all the wasted talents and opportunities!

How many people here know that when the medical course at Malaya University was first started in early 1970s, it was designed to be on par with those of UK universities. In fact, it was actually recognised by the British Medical Council ("BMC") so that it had equivalent status with British Universities medical degrees!  However, due to the dumbing down of Malaysian degrees by the government over the years, in 1989, it was de-recognised by the BMC.

Being typical Malaysian, the Malay dean of the medical faculty claimed that it was de-recognised because the course was being thought in Malay. An ex-MU medical student who wrote to the New Straits Times pointedly told the Dean that if that was the case, why did the BMC continue to recognise medical degrees from European and Japanese universities, which certainly weren't in English!

I understand from friends and relatives who qualified as doctors from local universities that they try to sit for the UK Royal College of Physicians professional exams in order to obtain professional qualifications which are internationally recognised, in case they want to join the Malaysian Brain Drain. Shows you the quality of our local medical graduates, now that medical colleges and degrees seem to be mushrooming like mad!

I have a cousin who graduated from UNIMAS 2nd batch of medical students.  I understand that up to now, that there seems to be problems with recognition from the MMA.  She was the one who told me that almost everybody in her year, including herself, were trying to pass the UK Royal College of Physicians exams.

ummm... assuming we're still talking about PhDs (or postgraduates in general), there should be no quotas. this have been outlined in a circular by MoHE around 2004 i think. that's why there are non-bumis doing postgrads in UiTM.

It was 2 phd students in the Law dept. Not the entire university. There were probably more than 2 phd students in the entire university back then. The total number of phd students probably HAVE increase, but it's not as drastic as that (from 2 to 400+).

Are they planning to benchmark it against Research Universities in Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Burma or Bangladesh?  Or are they planning to benchmark against Research Universities in Singapore, Korea, Hong Kong, China or Japan?

For your information, up to the 1970s and early 1980s, UM was at par or superior to universities in Singapore, Korea, Hong Kong or Japan.

http://www.limkitsiang.com/archive/1997/May97/sg430.htm
It was in 1997, in Asiaweek and it was even then showing its slide to mediocrity.  Read Lim Kit Siang's statement:

Times used to use QS for a long time for its rankings before breaking up a few years ago.  Actually, the first time that UM was ranked was sometime around 1994/5 by the now defunct Far East Economic Review.  It came out around 11 out of top 40 Asia universities.  That was a surprise to many in particular, UM lecturers who thought that they would have been ranked lower.

Anyway, since then, UM has never achieved those heights again and have consistently slid down the ranks in any world or Asia rankings.

I'm not sure what you mean I mix up the rankings?  I was quite clear that UM had dropped in rankings since the 1980s.  I don't think I stated the criteria, did I?  Anyway, doesn't matter which ranking you take, UM goes downhill.

Since this is a PhD forum, you need to provide justification why is UM a crap university.