Former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has reminded graduates to be honest, trustworthy and efficient especially when entering the employment market.

Abdullah, who is also the Chancellor of Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), said integrity was one of the most important work ethics in order to achieve work of high quality.

"Integrity at work can create a conducive environment in an organisation which will result in the production of high quality works," he said in his speech at the 16th UTP Convocation Ceremony at Seri Iskandar near here today.

A total 87 graduates received Doctorate Degrees in Philosophy, Masters Degrees (138) and Bachelor Degrees in Engineering and Technology (1,244) during the ceremony.

Also present at the ceremony were UTP Pro-Chancellor Tan Sri Sidek Hassan and UTP Vice Chancellor Datuk Dr Abdul Rahim Hashim.

Abdullah also urged graduates to participate in national development by always endeavouring towards the creations of wealth.

"Graduates must use the knowledge they obtained innovatively and creatively in order to give value-added and bring prosperity to society and nation."

Abdullah hopes that each graduate could make use of the knowledge and experience while at universities for progress and peace of society.

Meanwhile, Abdul Rahim said UTP made history by becoming the first private university to be awarded a six star rating by the Higher Education Ministry.

He said the rating was evaluated by the Malaysia Research Assessment Instrument (MyRA) for excellence in research and innovation.

UTP also made a name for itself at the global level after it was listed in the 'World University Times Education Ranking 2016' in 601st until 800th positions and the QS World University Ranking 2016 in 601st to 650th positions.

He said at Asian level, since the participation of UTP in the QS Asia University Ranking in 2013, UTP is now in 127th position, an improvement of 74 positions since the early part of its involvement.

"Of the 10 Bachelor programmes offered at UTP, three are listed as among the 300 world's best programmes, namely, Chemical Engineering; Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Electronics Engineering."

He said the numerous successes which were achieved proved UTP was capable of competing with other universities in the world and to emerge as the best private university in this country. -- Bernama