I'd personally choose UM. Highest ranked university in Malaysia. But that's just me la.

Unless you want to go really deep into economics (PhD), being in the best economic dept doesn't really matter all that much. If you want to become an investment banker, what you need is the right degree and a good GPA.

Food for thought:  if USM is easier because of said quota, and you can get a 4 flat and be at the top of the curve every single time vs just being an average dude in UM, you're better off being in USM.

UM would be more suited for your case somemore closer to KL haha

Tbh for investment banking, a degree in economics is kinda useless. A lot of investment bankers are from the more quantitative fields like engineering or math.

Econs as a undergraduate degree in Malaysia is sadly lacking the mathematical vigor required of a respected degree

RANKING DOESN'T MATTER!

It shouldn't matter when it comes to choosing unis for Undergraduate students, especially since we are dealing with places like USM and UM, which are the more prestigious local unis.

Furthermore, the metrics used in ranking hardly applies to undergraduate studies.

The main question is whether you wanna go kl, or stay at home? Answer this and you probably have your answer already.

Have you considered UUM? I heard UUM is very good for business-related courses.

Research output should be almost the same right. Even though they cut funding for um, it's still higher than usm. Even then, research shouldn't concern you as an Undergraduate as Malaysian unis in general have very little support for undergrad research.

Quality of lectures, no reason to believe one is better over the other. As a matter of fact, I'm in a top 20 uni in Asia, and frankly speaking, most lectures and tutorials here are useless. It's more to self study.

Bear in mind that uni isn't like school, where a good teacher mAkes a difference. It may make a difference, but 99.9% of the time it's self study.

Depends where you graduate from. An Econs degree from MIT or Harvard will open many doors, but the same probably can't be said for econs graduates in Malaysia... Econs degree programs here are generally too general and lack the vigor required for a respectable economics degree.

That table claims that businss and finance grads have it good. Now, with so many business schools around ask the average graduate and see how they are faring.

This bias is probably due to the fact that there are more Econs/business/finance graduates applying for these jobs, so naturally, their representation is higher. But do take note that you're not dealing with your average Ali from UM, Ah Chong from USM or Muthu from UKM. You're talking about princeton, Yale and Oxford graduates applying for these jobs.

That's assuming the article is correct, I find the statistics highly dubious. The website efinancialcareers isn't even highly credible to begin with... For an alternative pov, refer to this https://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/apr/...estment-banking

Also, do note that for the large investment banks, unless you're super talented (have some kind of impressive investment portfolio when u apply for a job), chances are that you need some connections (son of someone important, etc) to even get an interview. So in that sense, your major doesn't matter.