SERDANG, Nov 9 — Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) has once again demonstrated its academic excellence, ranking 22nd out of 1,526 universities in Asia in the QS World University Rankings 2026: Asia.
The achievement cements its position as Malaysia’s second-best university and the fourth-best in Southeast Asia.
This latest result places UPM among the top one per cent of universities in Asia, thanks to improvements across all 11 QS assessment indicators — four of which scored a perfect 100 per cent, namely inbound and outbound student exchange, international student ratio, and faculty with PhD qualifications.
Its vice-chancellor Dato' Prof Ahmad Farhan Mohd Sadullah said the university’s continued progress reflects sustained institutional improvement since last year, with overall scores and nine of the 11 indicators reaching record highs.
“UPM does not treat rankings as a strategic goal but as a measure of progress and continuous improvement. Our philosophy is simple — to be better than the year before.
"We focus on performance scores rather than positions because rankings are relative, and UPM prefers collaboration over competition,” he said in a statement.
Farhan added that the university’s performance in the QS Asia 2026 rankings underscores the success of UPM’s 'True North' strategic framework, which drives impact across knowledge, the nation, the planet, and humanity.
“This achievement is the result of the dedication of the entire UPM community. We will continue to strengthen teamwork and solidarity to achieve even greater impact,” he said.
UPM also maintained near-perfect scores in academic reputation (99.3 per cent) and employer reputation (98 per cent) while recording improvements in Papers per Faculty and Citations per Paper, highlighting the university’s strong research culture and global publication impact.
This consistent performance reinforces UPM’s status as a world-class research university driven by sustainability, innovation, and global well-being — in line with its True North vision and Planetary Health Blueprint.
