What is MyQuest - Rating of Private Colleges in Malaysia

MyQUEST is an abbreviation for Malaysian Quality Evaluation System for Private Colleges. The system was developed by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) Malaysia, as an instrument to evaluate the current performance of private colleges in Malaysia in terms of students, programmes, graduates, resources and governance. The evaluation of private colleges is necessary in order to push the education level in Malaysia to a higher standard. It is also a direct contribution to achieve the Key Results Area (KRA) that could drive the quality of education industry in Malaysia.

What are the qualifying criteria?

In order to be fair to participating colleges, the qualifying criteria have to take into account the readiness of these colleges to be evaluated. Only private colleges that are registered with the Ministry of Higher Education are invited to participate in the evaluation. It is believed that for a private college to mature it takes time and maturity, as we are all aware is the prerequisite to quality. Hence, in order for a private colleges to qualify to be rated in MyQUEST, the following criteria must be fulfilled:

1. Must have at least 1 cohort graduated
2. Must complete the entries of all five evaluation criteria (students, resources, quality management systems, programmes recognition and graduates recognition)

What are the evaluation criteria?

All participated colleges are evaluated based on five main criteria, and each criterion carries different weights. The evaluation criteria are:

1. Students (10%)
2. Resources (30%)
3. Quality Management Systems (30%)
4. Programmes Recognition (10%)
5. Graduates Recognition (20%)

The evaluation involved two phases. In the first, the private colleges are allowed to self evaluate by declaring their status and practices in the evaluation form that is web-based. These responses are actually answers to quality based indicators that will assign scores automatically and appropriately. The private colleges are able to determine their scores. The second phase involves an audit by a MOHE assigned audit involving the private college to obtain evidence for the declaration made in the first phase. Scores will be added or deducted accordingly with reference to the availability to unavailability to provide the evidence respectively.

How MyQUEST will benefit the public?

MyQUEST results will be able to assist the potential students, and their parents to select the best colleges in terms of an overall rating (college-based rating), as well as in their specific area of interest (cluster-based rating). This is one of the efforts of the Government of Malaysia to provide a quality education system for all citizens. For potential international students, they can refer to the results of International Students Readiness rating.

What is an International Students Readiness Rating?

An international student readiness rating is a reflection of the readiness of the private college to receive or handle international students. Some indicators that are taken into consideration are hostels, quality management systems for
international students, and security and safety.

What is the rating given to the colleges?

The rating given by MyQUEST will be in a form of different achievement levels as follows:

6✮ Outstanding (Terbilang)

5✮ Excellent (Cemerlang)

4✮ Very Good (Amat Baik)

3✮ Good (Baik)

2✮ Satisfactory (Memuaskan)

1✮ Poor (Lemah)

How the data/rating is verified?

All private colleges have been trained on how to key in the data into the system. Then, based on the data entered by them, a few trained and unbiased auditors are appointed to check and verify the data. Because all indicators and benchmarks are made transparent to them, this allows the private colleges to self-assess and self-improve themselves to obtain better rating.

Download the report in PDF

You may download the report in PDF here.