Private education has always been a competitive market, but it has become even more so in the last decade. As such, there are now more options for students who wish to take their education to a higher level.

With so much choice available, there is always the question of where, which many can find overwhelming. So, when it comes to considering which university to attend, rankings can be a helpful metric.

QS World University Rankings remains one of the most widely read university rankings in the world. Therefore, it is a significant achievement for home-grown Taylor’s University to be placed at No 49 in the recent QS Asia University Rankings 2023.

This is an improvement from the previous year, when it was No 53. It is the only private university in Southeast Asia to break into the Top 50 of Asia’s best universities list.

If you break it down, Taylor’s now sits as the top private university in Southeast Asia for the third year in a row with its No 284 ranking in the QS World University Rankings 2023. This places the institution among the top 1% of the most influential universities globally.

The significance of this is not lost on Taylor’s vice-chancellor and president Professor Michael Driscoll, who does not take this achievement lightly.

“As great as it is, we are constantly reminding ourselves to not be complacent. As private universities, we can’t afford to do that, and we have to, as they say, innovate or die,” says Driscoll.

The university saw growth in eight indicator scores — academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty student ratio, citations per paper, paper per faculty, international students, inbound exchange students and outbound exchange students.

According to Driscoll, the key to all of this rests on how Taylor’s treats its student body from the minute they step on campus. When he first joined the education provider, he recalls, he was struck by the dedication that the institution had for the welfare of its students.

“The reason we have been able to consistently, year after year, improve our ranking and standing is this intensive focus on our students — on their experience studying at Taylor’s and supporting them to achieve their ambition, both in terms of the qualifications they get and the career they move into after they graduate.”

Driscoll adds that it is important that the students find just as rich an experience outside the lecture halls. It is no secret that employers these days are not just interested in the knowledge gleaned in classrooms and laid out in exams. Many human resources managers often speak about the fact that if it comes down to two candidates for a position, the one with more personable soft skills often has the advantage.

“We have moved very significantly away from narrowly prescribed courses to open up other parts of the curriculum to students. For example, allowing engineering students to do humanities or social sciences, or vice versa,” he says.

For Driscoll, a clear sign that this strategy is gaining traction is that a growing number of students are opting to take a minor, or secondary specialisation, along with the main focus of their degree.

“But in addition to that, a lot of the individual modules are increasingly taking a project or problem-solving approach. So, the students can define the problem they are interested in and that allows them to have a much more customised course that reflects their passions and interests, rather than something that is over-designed that they are just passive consumers of,” he explains.

In keeping with its mantra of having an eye on the future, the problems that the students often tackle are what the United Nations would deem big world challenges. Namely, climate change, ageing population, poverty and food security, among others.

However, Driscoll is quick to point out that the only issue with allowing this kind of freeform education is that it often brushes up against regulations, either from the government or professional bodies, which he says are sometimes a couple of decades behind. “We have to try to reform things as much as possible, and I think we have been reasonably successful,” he says.

Driscoll says Taylor’s also gives a lot of weight to what happens after its students graduate. According to him, Taylor’s strongly engages with employers to get their feedback, which helps to shape its curriculum.

“You need to remember that 95% of people who go to university do so with the intention of going into the workforce. Very few go on to do PhDs, or to become teachers or researchers. Increasingly, our students are going out and doing placements as part of their degree.”

Another big plus for employers is experience abroad. Driscoll says that for Taylor’s students, this is twofold. Not only is the student body increasingly becoming international, with more than 30% of its population now coming from overseas, but students are also given the opportunity to study at universities in other countries as part of their learning experience.

“This helps to develop graduates who know how to navigate the world, who know how to deal with disappointments and setbacks and, most importantly, not be held back by that, so they can rise up again and go on to success,” says Driscoll.

Other benefits of international exposure, according to Driscoll, is that it will create future employees who embrace collaboration and are happy to work in multicultural workplaces, which is more the norm rather than the exception these days.

As the world evolves, it is crucial that the standards and scope of education do as well. Driscoll says Taylor’s embraces this and as such, its future syllabus will include subjects that deal with the metaverse and immersive technology.

Taylor’s also wants to make sure that its name is increasingly known on the global stage. Driscoll says in its effort to achieve that goal, Taylor’s hopes to establish branch campuses around the region, which would allow it to offer its expertise to a wider audience.

“What I would like to see in 10 years is that the Lakeside campus has become a hub of sorts for specialist institutions. Because we have some high-ranking provisions in the areas of hospitality and tourism. If we really want to use our knowledge and expertise, we have to go beyond Malaysia’s borders,” he adds.

That dream does not seem that far-fetched at the moment. Taylor’s is currently No 16 in the world in hospitality and leisure management in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022, defending its position as the highest-ranked Malaysian university in the world for the fifth time in a row.