China Universities to be Recognised?

The Malaysian government appears to be finally lookiing to recognising qualifications from the top 2 universities in China - Peking and Tsinghua University. It was reported in various local dailies last week that the Cabinet has agreed "in principle" to recognise the academic qualifications of the two renowned universities.

Based on the global universities ranking by the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES), both universities are in the top 50 in the world. Peking University is ranked 14th while Tsinghua University is 28th. A separate ranking system by the Shanghai Jiaotung University, placed them in the 150th-300th bracket but still within the top 40 in the Asia-Pacific region. Note that the latter system had no Malaysian universities present in the Top 500.

Hence it has always been an anomaly that degrees from established Chinese universities are not recognised by the Malaysian government. This is despite the fact that Malaysia is fairly liberal in giving recognition to much lesser universities from developing countries. For example in the medical profession, degrees from Uganda, Burma, Pakistan and Iraq are given recognition.

Anyway, it's always better late than never, and we wait to see when the "in-principle" approval gets actually "approved". ;)