Environmental Sustainability of Universities: Critical Review …
7
2 Research University (RU) in Malaysia
In the nineteenth century, German University is the first university to obtain the title
Research University (RU) where instead of teaching, research activities are highly
performed (Lehrer et al. 2009). In general definition, RU is a university that gives
high priority in research as a major part of their mission (Altbach and Knight 2007).
According to Atkinson and Blanpied (2008), developed countries use the concept
of RU as a guideline for teaching, research and innovation excellence. Considering
German University as a success model in promoting RU’s concept, other countries
have duplicated this model including the United States (US) (Ramli et al. 2013). Due
to the new development in research field and the idea of government’s support in university (Atkinson and Blanpied 2008), the US had established a new RU model. The
model has then expanded through their concept and operation to become a complex
organisation with variety of campuses, research centres, institutes and programmes.
Ramli (2013) concluded that “the US RU is an independent organisation with absolute autonomy to direct the focus of research and direction of the university”.
There are five public universities in Malaysia that have been appointed as RU.
The five RUs are Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM),
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). UM, UKM, UPM and USM were announced as
the RU under 9th Malaysia Plan (2006) while UTM was announced under 10th
Malaysia Plan (2010). In accordance with The National Higher Education Strategic Plan Beyond 2020, Malaysia’s RUs are required to focus primarily on research
activities and to explore their intellectual capacity to become a model for other universities in Malaysia (Sheriff and Abdullah 2017). In this book chapter, only three
RU were reviewed, which are UM, UPM and UTM. Table 1 shows the achievement
of Malaysia’s RU according to world university rankings such as UI GreenMetric
World University Rankings 2017, QS World University Rankings 2018, QS Asia
University Rankings 2018 and Times Higher Education (THE) World University
Rankings 2018.
Table 1 Malaysia’s Research University’s Rankings (Universitas Indonesia 2017; QS Top Universities 2018a, b; Times Higher Education 2018)
Malaysia’s
Research
University
UI GreenMetric
World
University
Rankings 2017
QS World
University
Rankings 2018
QS Asia
University
Rankings 2018
The World
University
Rankings 2018
UPM
27
202
36
601–800
UM
34
87
24
351–400
UTM
66
228
49
601–800
7
2 Research University (RU) in Malaysia
In the nineteenth century, German University is the first university to obtain the title
Research University (RU) where instead of teaching, research activities are highly
performed (Lehrer et al. 2009). In general definition, RU is a university that gives
high priority in research as a major part of their mission (Altbach and Knight 2007).
According to Atkinson and Blanpied (2008), developed countries use the concept
of RU as a guideline for teaching, research and innovation excellence. Considering
German University as a success model in promoting RU’s concept, other countries
have duplicated this model including the United States (US) (Ramli et al. 2013). Due
to the new development in research field and the idea of government’s support in university (Atkinson and Blanpied 2008), the US had established a new RU model. The
model has then expanded through their concept and operation to become a complex
organisation with variety of campuses, research centres, institutes and programmes.
Ramli (2013) concluded that “the US RU is an independent organisation with absolute autonomy to direct the focus of research and direction of the university”.
There are five public universities in Malaysia that have been appointed as RU.
The five RUs are Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM),
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). UM, UKM, UPM and USM were announced as
the RU under 9th Malaysia Plan (2006) while UTM was announced under 10th
Malaysia Plan (2010). In accordance with The National Higher Education Strategic Plan Beyond 2020, Malaysia’s RUs are required to focus primarily on research
activities and to explore their intellectual capacity to become a model for other universities in Malaysia (Sheriff and Abdullah 2017). In this book chapter, only three
RU were reviewed, which are UM, UPM and UTM. Table 1 shows the achievement
of Malaysia’s RU according to world university rankings such as UI GreenMetric
World University Rankings 2017, QS World University Rankings 2018, QS Asia
University Rankings 2018 and Times Higher Education (THE) World University
Rankings 2018.
Table 1 Malaysia’s Research University’s Rankings (Universitas Indonesia 2017; QS Top Universities 2018a, b; Times Higher Education 2018)
Malaysia’s
Research
University
UI GreenMetric
World
University
Rankings 2017
QS World
University
Rankings 2018
QS Asia
University
Rankings 2018
The World
University
Rankings 2018
UPM
27
202
36
601–800
UM
34
87
24
351–400
UTM
66
228
49
601–800