KUALA LUMPUR: Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said yesterday it was unfair to judge Malaysia’s quality of education by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) study, which ranked countries according to 15-year-olds’ proficiency in science and mathematics.

He told the Dewan Rakyat that the study, which placed Malaysia in the 52nd place out of 76 countries, derived its results from the 2012 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) results, which he said were no longer relevant.

“They are using facts from the Pisa 2012 results. But in 2014, we took a new Pisa test. The results will be out soon, maybe next year,” Idris said during question time.

“In 2013, we published a new (education) blueprint. So it is unfair for us to judge our education system based on facts from 2012.”

Idris said this in reply to DAP-Gelang Patah Member of Parliament Lim Kit Siang, who noted in his question that Malaysia was among the bottom third in the OECD study. Kit Siang also said that Malaysian varsities could not rely on the QS Quacquarelli Symonds rankings alone to evaluate their performance, and asked when they planned to take part in the Times Higher Education (THE) rankings.

“We are aware that the QS ranking isn’t the only ranking out there. But we must begin with the QS rankings. For instance, children start out by riding ponies before they ride horses,” said Idris.

He said THE emphasised research and citation in its rankings, and told the Dewan Rakyat that last year’s SCImago Journal & Country Rank revealed Malaysia had published more journals than Singapore in 2013.

“We can see clearly that we have begun to surpass Singapore in publication. And it is not impossible for us to outdo Singapore in other rankings.

“God willing, we will participate in THE’s rankings. We will not be left behind in playing a role in THE,” said Idris.

He reiterated his belief that Malaysian universities could compete with the world’s best, including Oxford University, within a few decades, if they kept up their efforts to improve. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 22, 2015.