University of Malaya

About University of Malaya

Universiti Malaya began on 28 September 1905 in Singapore as the King Edward VII College of Medicine. In 1949 it merged with Raffles College to form Universiti Malaya, and after separate Singapore and Kuala Lumpur divisions were created in 1959, it was established as Malaysia's national university on 1 January 1962. It is the country's oldest university. Teaching is organised through 14 faculties covering medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, engineering, science, computer science, the built environment, business and economics, law, education, languages, the arts and social sciences, creative arts, and sport and exercise sciences, alongside academies, institutes and centres. The university occupies a 922-acre campus in south-west Kuala Lumpur and has more than 27,000 students, including international students from over 80 countries.

Schools and faculties

• Faculty of Medicine

  Continues the institution's origins as a medical college founded in 1905.

• Faculty of Engineering

  Offers a range of engineering programmes and research.

• Faculty of Science

  Covers the physical, biological and mathematical sciences.

• Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology

  Teaches computing, software and information systems.

• Faculty of Business and Economics

  Provides business, accounting and economics education.

• Faculty of Law

  Offers legal education and research.

• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

  Covers the humanities and social sciences, including history.

• Faculty of Built Environment

  Teaches architecture, planning and related disciplines.

Study options

• Foundation programmes
• Diploma programmes
• Bachelor's degrees
• Master's and doctoral degrees by coursework and research
• Open and distance learning

Research

The university hosts two Higher Education Centres of Excellence, the Photonics Research Centre and the Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences. Other research units include the UM Sustainable Development Centre and the Rimba Ilmu botanical garden, with recent work highlighted in areas such as dengue vaccine development, craniofacial innovation and sustainable community development.

Rank in Malaysia

#1 of 25

Research works

106,890

Citations

6.2 million

h-index

614

Research figures from OpenAlex (October 2026). How the directory is made.

This profile was written by WAC from University of Malaya’s own website and checked in October 2026. It describes the institution and is not an endorsement or a ranking of teaching quality. Is this your institution? Send a correction.