It has been a banner year for Sunway University. It has marked a series of groundbreaking achievements that affirm its position as a leading private university in Malaysia and Asean. Despite being relatively new by global standards, the university’s impact continues to grow rapidly, as evidenced by its improved rankings, expansion of academic offerings and significant milestones in research and education.

Sunway University has cemented its status as a research-intensive university. It is now ranked in three prestigious global rankings — Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE WUR), the QS World University Rankings (QS WUR) and the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) — a distinction held by no other private Asean university.

This year, Sunway University rose to the 400-500 band in THE WUR, its highest position yet, and to 539 in QS WUR. The university is particularly proud of its research output, with nearly 1,800 publications — a 35% growth from last year — indexed in Scopus, a source of data to assess research activity and excellence of universities globally.

“In Malaysia, we are now seventh in the number of research publications, ahead of institutions like Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) and Monash University, which were always ahead of us,” says its president Professor Sibrandes Poppema. More importantly, these publications are highly cited, putting Sunway University ahead of all Malaysian universities and among the very best in the world.

He says Sunway University began ascending the ranks two years ago and has consistently outperformed its peers. The surge in research output has been a key driver in elevating Sunway University’s overall ranking.

Poppema emphasises that one of Sunway University’s defining features is its resilience. Unlike many private universities that struggled during the pandemic, it has seen a significant uptick in student intake, growing by 40% in the last three years.

“Sunway University did not shrink during Covid,” he says. “Instead, we grew just a little bit, and after Covid, we grew the number of students from 7,800 to 11,200 today.”

Poppema says Sunway University has implemented a “virtuous growth strategy” to increase its student enrolment, publication numbers and ranking. Early this year, international student enrolment was about 13% and rose to 16% in the last intake.

Sunway University aims to further increase its international student intake, with projections of 20% to 40% in the coming years, says Poppema.

Sunway University has been collaborating with Arizona State University in the US to offer a full American degree programme to bolster its international standing. The programme enables students to complete their first three years of undergraduate study at Sunway University before transferring to ASU for the final year.

“Previously, our students transferred to highly ranked universities in the US and Canada, including Arizona State University, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, New York University, University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin and Boston University for two years through our American Degree Transfer Programme,” he notes.

But with ambitions set sky-high for the coming years, one question looms: Can Sunway University sustain its rapid growth and fulfil its bold target?

“What we have shown over the past three years is that every year, we have actually outperformed our plans,” says Poppema. “We have been growing 14% per year in student intake, and nearly 40% per year in the number of publications. This doesn’t happen often anywhere. That said, we’re not expecting to sustain such high publication growth rates indefinitely.”

The university aims to scale its publication growth to between 20% and 25% in the coming years while focusing on student enrolment, especially those of international students. “As long as we are able to keep increasing our student numbers, this is all very feasible.”

By 2030, it plans to have 25,000 students and produce at least 5,000 research publications. These figures, if achieved, would make it the leading Malaysian university in research output.

“Yes, it is ambitious,” Poppema admits. “But by then, the goal is to also become the No 1 Malaysian university in all major rankings.”

Sunway University’s efforts to obtain a more diverse student body have also been a key focus over the past several years. While it is often perceived as catering primarily to non-bumiputera and international students, the university is actively working to change that narrative.

“When we say we wanted to increase the number of students, equally we would like to get more Malay students to come to Sunway University,” Poppema stresses. “Many Malay students and parents never consider coming to Sunway University. They think Sunway University is for Chinese Malaysians. But no, Sunway University is a Malaysian university. It is for all Malaysians.”

It is worth noting that Sunway University has a number of prominent Malay educators, including Professor Raja Affendi Raja Ali, Dean of the School of Medical and Life Science, and Associate Professor Dr Malissa Maria Mahmud, Dean of the School of Education.

After years of continued efforts — navigating three government changes, a global pandemic and rigorous approval processes — Sunway University has welcomed its first cohort of medical students this month.

“This is a collaboration with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), where we use their curriculum. There will be some additional features that will be unique to Sunway Medical School,” says Poppema, who trained as a pathologist and holds a doctorate in immunopathology from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

Named after its chancellor, the Sir Jeffrey Cheah Sunway Medical School will feature unique subjects such as planetary health and digital medicine and promote interdisciplinary collaboration by training doctors alongside nurses, lab technicians and other healthcare professionals in shared facilities.

“The curriculum will also be much more research-intensive than most medical curricula,” says Poppema. “Not many medical students have been trained in research, particularly for clinical trials, so we will need more people who are trained in this field.”

Students will engage in cutting-edge research from their first year and have opportunities for attachments at prestigious institutions like the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge and Harvard University.

Elsewhere, Sunway University continues to grow its School of Engineering and Technology with three new programmes — mechanical engineering, mechatronic engineering and civil engineering.

To support this expansion, the university has set up state-of-the-art facilities. It has transformed and expanded the former Sunway International School building into a dedicated zero emission engineering building based on sustainable innovations by eight research groups within the school.

A new milestone is set for October next year, with the opening of state-of-the-art facilities for its Business School and School of Arts, effectively doubling the university’s capacity and further enhancing its environment with advanced labs and collaborative spaces.

This year alone, Sunway University hosted three significant global summits, each contributing to its growing reputation while addressing critical global issues and fostering collaboration among academic institutions worldwide.

Among the summits was the Planetary Health Summit 2024 (PHAM 2024), marking the summit’s first foray outside the Americas. Over 1,000 participants from all five continents gathered to craft a roadmap for planetary health, which has since led to Malaysia developing its first-ever government-endorsed planetary health plan.

“Malaysia will be the first country to have a planetary health plan. So, this is a very good result of the conference. For us, it is one of the ways to become better known because this brought 1,000 academics from all over the world to Sunway University,” says Poppema.

Sunway University also hosted the Times Higher Education Asia Universities Summit, which brought together 500 delegates from universities across Asia. The meeting provided a platform for exchanging best practices and ideas, fostering connections among institutions and promoting Malaysia as a study designation.

For Sunway University, such gatherings are more than networking opportunities — they are strategic moves to boost its reputation and rankings, said its president.

Just last month, Sunway University co-hosted the first edition of the AppliedHE Xchange. The three-day event featured the launch of the AppliedHE Public and Private University Ranking: Asean 2025, where Sunway University was ranked the top private university in Asean for the second consecutive time.

The Xchange held insightful panel discussions involving delegates, thought leaders and industry experts across Asean countries to gain insights into improving their standing in such rankings, with Sunway University serving as both a host and a role model.

Sunway University’s ambition doesn’t stop here. The institution is actively vying to host the QS Higher Ed Asia Summit in 2026, which could further cement its standing as a hub for academic discourse in the region.

“We want to host more of these meetings as it is good to do it, have meetings with universities and learn from each other, and also for us and Malaysian higher education to become better known,” says Poppema.

Sunway University has once again solidified its position as the leading institution for graduate employability in Malaysia. For the third consecutive year, its graduates have been crowned the most employable by TalentBank, in a leading graduate employability survey. Separately, the official numbers now show that 99% of its students have found employment within half a year of graduation.

The TalentBank recognition is based on feedback from top employers across various industries, highlighting Sunway University’s commitment to producing industry-ready talent. The university’s rigorous academic programmes — along with a strong emphasis on practical skills and experiential learning, as well as its focus on values and sustainability, planetary health and entrepreneurial mindset — have contributed significantly to the high demand for its graduates.

Sunway University has also been identified as the top choice among employees seeking careers in private higher education institutions. This dual recognition underscores the university’s strong reputation and ability to attract and nurture top talent.

“These recognitions reflect our unwavering dedication to providing exceptional education and comprehensive career preparation, equipping students with the skills, values, mindset and knowledge employers seek,” says Poppema.

The journey of sustainability at Sunway University began with the vision of Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah, founder of the Sunway Group. His collaboration with Professor Jeffrey Sachs, renowned economist and adviser to the United Nations, led to the establishment of the Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development.

Following this, Sunway University developed its Campus with a Conscience initiative to integrate sustainable development and planetary health into every facet of campus life, making these principles more than just academic concepts — they are a way of life.

The Campus with a Conscience impact extends beyond the campus. The university collaborates with local communities, non-governmental organisations and businesses to promote sustainable development and social responsibility. Through partnerships and community engagement, Sunway University aims to positively impact society as a whole.

For example, the university has initiated at Desa Mentari, a housing project near its campus with more than 26,000 inhabitants, the Sunway Desa Mentari Community Engagement to revolutionise the area and address the multifaceted challenges faced by its urban poor community. All Sunway University students will be involved in this activity through a second-year mandatory course named Community Service for Planetary Health.

The Desa Mentari Community Engagement will empower students to address real-world challenges and apply sustainable solutions while fostering community ties, says Poppema.

“Campus with a Conscience activities will result in Sunway alumni that have a mindset that includes sustainability, integrity, planetary health and being entrepreneurial. Those are all characteristics that also contribute to being employable and contributors to society,” he adds.

“What we want to achieve is students who contribute to the world. That is the goal of holistic education. Not just knowledge and skills, but also having the right values and mindset, to be valued employees or to be an employer themselves.”

For a university that is still building its name, the strategy is clear: be present, be heard and make an impact.

With its eyes firmly on the future, Sunway University is proving that age is no barrier to ambition. By positioning itself as a nexus for global academic exchange, it is redefining what it means to be a new private institution in an increasingly interconnected world.