Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) has developed and implemented a new rating system known as The Discipline-Based Rating System (D-SETARA) to assess (by areas of discipline) the quality of teaching and learning in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Malaysia. It aims to ensure continuous improvement to the quality and competitiveness of higher learning institutions.
This rating covers four disciplines: Engineering; Tourism and Hospitality; Medical, Dental and Pharmacy and Health Sciences. MQA is working on other disciplines.
The four areas of study were chosen as they were underlined in the government's education initiatives of the National Key Economic Areas, said Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.
The difference between D-SETARA and SETARA that was implemented in 2011 is that the former rates the disciplines offered at an institution while SETARA rates the institution as a whole.
D-SETARA aims to rate the institutional level quality of teaching and learning of specific (clusters of) disciplines at level six (undergraduate level) of the Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF) in universities and university colleges. The system, the first of its kind, is a complement to the existing institutional rating through Sistem Penarafan Institusi Pengajian Tinggi Malaysia (SETARA) which has been successfully carried out for several years. Whilst SETARA focuses on the institution, D-SETARA focuses on the schools or faculties where the respective discipline is offered. The spirit is one of benchmarking against a set of quality standards for the purpose of improvement of the institution and discipline but not for competition between the institutions.
The first D-SETARA exercise focuses on four clusters of disciplines: Engineering; Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy; Health Sciences; and Hospitality and Tourism. Participation in D-SETARA is voluntary; invitations were made to all HEIs offering undergraduate programmes and have had the first batch of graduates in 2011. The Engineering discipline however, involved only HEIs which offer four-year degree programmes. The number of institutions rated in each discipline were 25 (Engineering), 15 (Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy), 14 (Health Sciences) and seven (Hospitality and Tourism).
The results show that for Engineering discipline, out of the 25 universities and university colleges rated, 11 institutions achieved a Tier 5 category, 13 institutions achieved Tier 4, and the remaining one, achieved Tier 3. For Health Sciences discipline, out of the 14 universities and university colleges rated, five institutions achieved a Tier 5 category, six institutions achieved Tier 4, and two institutions are in Tier 3. One institution was not rated because of insufficient data. As for the Hospitality and Tourism discipline, the result shows that out of the seven universities and university colleges rated, one institution achieved the Tier 6 (Outstanding) category, three institutions in Tier 5 and one institution each in Tier 4 and Tier 3. One institution in this discipline was not rated because of insufficient data. For Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy discipline, out of the 15 universities and university colleges rated, only one institution achieved Tier 5 category, 11 institutions in Tier 4, and two institutions in Tier 3. One institution was not rated because of insufficient data. Among all the universities and university colleges that are rated, the results show that none of them is in Tier 1 or Tier 2.
The D-SETARA exercise classifies its rating into six Tiers, ranging from Tier 1 as Weak to Tier 6 as Outstanding. The following is the full result (extracted from www.mqa.gov.my), listed in alphabetical order:
| HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM | |
|---|---|
| NAME OF INSTITUTION | TIER |
| MANAGEMENT AND SCIENCE UNIVERSITY | 5 |
| SUNWAY UNIVERSITY | 5 |
| TAYLOR’S UNIVERSITY | 6 |
| UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SABAH | 3 |
| UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA | 5 |
| UNIVERSITI UTARA MALAYSIA | 4 |
|
THE D-SETARA (HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM) COMMITTEE |
|
| ENGINEERING | |
|---|---|
| NAME OF INSTITUTION | TIER |
| CURTIN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SARAWAK CAMPUS (now known as Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia) |
5 |
| KUALA LUMPUR INFRASTRUCTURE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE (now known as Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur) |
4 |
| MONASH UNIVERSITY SUNWAY CAMPUS | 5 |
| MULTIMEDIA UNIVERSITY | 5 |
| SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SARAWAK CAMPUS | 4 |
| THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM MALAYSIA CAMPUS | 4 |
| UCSI UNIVERSITY | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI INDUSTRI SELANGOR | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI ISLAM ANTARABANGSA MALAYSIA | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI KEBANGSAAN MALAYSIA | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI MALAYA | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA PAHANG | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA PERLIS | 5 |
| UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SABAH | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI PERTAHANAN NASIONAL MALAYSIA | 3 |
| UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA | 5 |
| UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA | 5 |
| UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA | 5 |
| UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA | 5 |
| UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI PETRONAS | 5 |
| UNIVERSITI TENAGA NASIONAL | 5 |
| UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSIA | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN | 5 |
THE D-SETARA (ENGINEERING) COMMITTEE |
|
| MEDICINE, DENTISTRY AND PHARMACY | |
|---|---|
| NAME OF INSTITUTION | TIER |
| AIMST UNIVERSITY | 4 |
| CYBERJAYA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES | 4 |
| INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL UNIVERSITY | 4 |
| MONASH UNIVERSITY SUNWAY CAMPUS | 4 |
| UCSI UNIVERSITY | 3 |
| UNIVERSITI ISLAM ANTARABANGSA MALAYSIA | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI KEBANGSAAN MALAYSIA | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI MALAYA | 5 |
| UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SABAH | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI SAINS ISLAM MALAYSIA | 3 |
| UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA | 4 |
THE D-SETARA (HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM) COMMITTEE |
|
| HEALTH SCIENCES | |
|---|---|
| NAME OF INSTITUTION | TIER |
| INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL UNIVERSITY | 5 |
| MANAGEMENT & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY | 5 |
| OPEN UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA | 3 |
| TWINTECH INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY | 4 |
| UCSI UNIVERSITY | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI ISLAM ANTARABANGSA MALAYSIA | 5 |
| UNIVERSITI KEBANGSAAN MALAYSIA | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI MALAYA | 5 |
| UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK | 3 |
| UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA | 5 |
| UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA | 4 |
| UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN | 4 |
THE D-SETARA (HEALTH SCIENCES) COMMITTEE |
|
THE D-SETARA COMMITTEE |
VERIFICATION OF D-SETARA |
NB:
- One institution that participated in D-SETARA (Hospitality and Tourism),
one institution that participated in D-SETARA (Medicine, Dentistry and
Pharmacy) and one institution that participated in D-SETARA (Health
Sciences) were not rated because of insufficient data.
- An Employer Survey for D-SETARA was conducted jointly by GRADUAN,
Ministry of Health Malaysia and MQA.
