Malaysia's top government universities have risen a few notches on the Top 200 Asian Universities Ranking, according to surveyors Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings.

                

Although Universiti Malaya (UM) fell to position 42 from 39 for 2009, other higher educational institutions in the country have maintained their position or even advanced.

top asian university rankings 130510 Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), however, dropped from position 51 to 58 to be at par with Taiwan's National Central University and the Philippines' Ateneo de Manila University.

UM, once the nation's premier university, was among the world's top 100 higher educational institutions in 2004 but dropped out of the global index in 2006.

Faring better in their Asian ranking were Universiti Putera Malaysia, climbing from position 90 to 77, while International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) rose from 156 from 201.

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), which received the Apex University status in 2009, maintained its ranking of 69 while Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) remained at 82.

The UK-based resource on higher education rated the University of Hong Kong at the top of their list followed by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

The National University of Singapore ranked third out of the 200 Asian universities surveyed, an improvement of seven points from 2009.