Four Malaysian public universities, all research universities, have improved on their rankings in the 2015 QS Asian University Rankings as compared to last year.

Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said Universiti Malaya rose to 29th place from 32 last year while Universiti Sains Malaysia to 49 from 57.

He said Universiti Teknologi Malaysia was ranked 61st from its former position of 66, Universiti Putra Malaysia (76 to 66), while Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia remained in 56th position.

The QS Asian University Rankings has highlighted the 300 top universities in Asia since 2009.

Idris announced this during a briefing titled "Continuous Improvement: Transformation and Success in Malaysian Education" at the Malaysian National News Agency's (Bernama) headquarters here.

Speaking to reporters after the briefing, Idris said the country's public universities achieved better performance in various fields in recent years, including being listed in the top 100 subjects ranking in the world through QS World University Rankings by Subject 2015.

He was also confident that the target for the public universities to be ranked in the world's 100 best universities in the next two years would be achieved through the Malaysian Education Blueprint (Higher Education) 2015-2025.