Over 1,000 university research projects are found lacking

According to the auditor general, Malaysia’s five research universities carried out more than 1,000 research projects that turned out unsatisfactory in 2023 while costing MYR148.04 million (US$33 million), writes Anis Hazim for The Edge Malaysia.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia had the most ‘unsatisfactory’ projects, a report by the auditor general released on Monday 24 February showed. The university also had the highest number of ‘problematic’ projects out of the total 151 projects that consumed MYR23.69 million, the report noted.

The Higher Education Ministry and the research universities have been asked to strengthen regular monitoring of research project performance and implementation to ensure that they are in line with planned objectives and meet their targets, the auditor general said. There are four other research universities in Malaysia – Universiti Malaya, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Together, the five universities received fundamental research grants totalling MYR285.44 million.
Full report on The Edge Malaysia site