Since UTAR’s establishment in 2002, every step taken has been a process of learning and growing that has brought forth improvement in various area. UTAR received its first ranking of #111-120 by the Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Rankings 2017. UTAR was ranked #101-150 in the THE Young University Rankings 2017 and ranked=14 in the THE Young University Rankings 2017: Millennial universities. The THE ranking is merely a reflection on the year of 2016, but to a greater extent it serves as a benchmark for UTAR to strive for excellence in the area of publication and citations.

The multiple attention-grabbing headlines on our staff and students’ achievements, especially in the realm of R&D and Commercialisation, reinforce the University’s commitment towards excellence in teaching and research. Apart from that, there are many other things to be considered as a measure of the effectiveness of a university such as the relevance of a university to an industry. Thus, producing a research that contributes to a greater impact for the society is far more crucial than obtaining a ranking.

It is agreeable that the attributes of a well-rounded research should focus on the outcome which benefits the society or that brings socio-economic impact in which to address the social issues. It has to incorporate a technology for improvement and a system for the implication that can be used by the society. In other words, a good research emphasise on the impact and benefits it would reap for the society. At the same time, the research that is carried out should also be related to the Malaysian context so that citizens would benefit from the research outcome.