The National University of Singapore Singapore and Nanyang Technological University have been awarded first and second place respectively in the Times Asia University Rankings 2016.
It also marks the first time that the National University of Singapore has reached the top spot in the rankings since its introduction in 2013. The University of Tokyo had previously sat at the top spot, but has slipped down to seventh position this year. The Asia University Rankings uses the same 13 indicators as the World University Rankings. These indicators reflect each university’s strength in five main areas: teaching, research, citation, industry income and international outlook. The rankings place more importance on industry income, research income and productivity and less on reputation. According to Channel News Asia, National University of Singapore’s President Professor Tan Chorh Chuan said,
“We are delighted that NUS has been recognised as the top Asian university in the latest rankings by the Times Higher Education. Together with NUS’ top placement for the past three years in the QS Asian Universities Ranking, these results affirm NUS’ strong reputation as a leading global university.”
Bertil Andersson, president of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University was quoted by the Times Higher Education as saying,
“Singapore is one of the countries that, in the past 10 or 15 years has invested maybe the most in academic research globally, if you compare it to the size of the country,”
NUS also achieved the highest score for research in the list, whilst NTU was in joint second place with China’s Peking University for scoring the best on research influence.
| 2016 Asia rank | World University Rank 2015-16 | Institution | Country |
| 1 | 26 | National University of Singapore | Singapore |
| =2 | 55 | Nanyang Technological University | Singapore |
| =2 | 42 | Peking University | China |
| 4 | =44 | University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong |
| 5 | =47 | Tsinghua University | China |
| 6 | 59 | Hong Kong University of Science and Technology | Hong Kong |
| 7 | 43 | University of Tokyo | Japan |
| 8 | 116 | Pohang University of Science and Technology | South Korea |
| 9 | 85 | Seoul National University | South Korea |
| 10 | 148 | Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) | South Korea |
Hong Kong was represented twice in the top ten, with the University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong University of Scient and Technology taking fourth and sixth place respectively. South Korea’s Seoul National University came in ninth place, whilst Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology came in tenth.
To download the full rankings, which contains 200 universities, click here.