Tsinghua University in mainland China has topped Times Higher Education’s (THE's) Asia University Rankings 2024, retaining its No. 1 spot for the 6th year in a row. In second place is Peking University, which is 2nd for the 5th year in a row.
Taking third place is National University of Singapore (NUS), which has also maintained its position for the 5th consecutive year. Besides NUS, Singapore has Nanyang Technological University in the ranking. The university up one place, from 5th to 4th this year.
Meanwhile, mainland China’s representation in the top 10 has increased to five, up from four last year. The advances come at the expense of Hong Kong universities, with one fewer institution in the top 10 against three last year.
Japanese universities had significantly higher scores in this year’s research quality pillar due to the addition of a new research influence metric. Institutions such as the University of Tokyo moved from 8th last year to 5th, and Kyoto University jumped from 18th last year to 13th.
Top 10 universities in THE’s Asia University Rankings 2024
1 Tsinghua University, mainland China (2023 1st)
2 Peking University, mainland China (2023 2nd)
3 National University of Singapore, Singapore (2023 3rd)
4 Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (2023 5th)
5 The University of Tokyo, Japan (2023 8th)
6 University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (2023 4th)
7 Shanghai Jiao Tong University, mainland China (2023 tied for 9th)
8 Fudan University, China (2023 tied for 9th)
9 Zhejiang University, China (2023 12th)
10 Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (2023 6th)
Source: Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2024
Seventeen of Thailand’s 19 universities either moved up or maintained their position in this year’s ranking. The country’s top three institutions are: Chulalongkorn University, which is ranked 117; Mahidol University, ranked 139; and King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, ranked 192. All rose from 201–250 rankings last year.
While most of Indonesia’s 24 universities maintained their position in the ranking there are two notable exceptions. The University of Indonesia jumped up from 251–300 last year to 201–250 this year, and Universitas Gadjah Mada shot up from 401–500 last year to 351–400 in 2024.
Seventy more universities are ranked this year than last, totalling 739 this year. This is a 10.5% increase, from 31 countries/regions, while a further 388 are listed as having reporter status*. Many of the newly-ranked institutions are in west or south Asia.
Phil Baty, Times Higher Education’s Chief Global Affairs Officer said: “We have tracked the impressive rise of China in the global rankings for two decades now, but what we can clearly see now is that the rising tide in Asia is lifting all boats.
“While China’s leading universities now compete at the very top of the world rankings, our data shows a strengthening across Asia, where a healthy competition, more collaboration, more investment in research and university capacity and more internationalisation is driving up performance. It all amounts to hugely positive tectonic shifts in higher education from the west to the wast, with real excellence demonstrated in East Asia and Southeast Asia in particular and well beyond.
“Another significant highlight is the growth of other regional powerhouses including India, Japan and increasingly Thailand, all of which show a continuous improvement in Asian countries’ higher education systems, which must be seen against the backdrop of an increasingly highly competitive higher education environment in the region.”
This is the 12th edition of THE’s the Asia University Rankings. Japan had the most universities in the rankings with 119 entries, followed by India with 91, up from 75 last year. The country’s highest-ranked institution is the Indian Institute of Science at 32nd place, up from 48th. In 3rd place is mainland China with 86 universities.
Turkey has 75 universities, up from 61 last year. The top two – Koç University and Middle East Technical University – share 69th place, while Istanbul Technical University rose from joint 149th to 92nd. Iran is the fifth-most represented country with 73 universities.
Details
The methodology behind the Asia University Rankings is based on the same framework as the World University Rankings, but the weightings are recalibrated to reflect the priorities of Asian institutions. Check the Asia University Rankings 2024 methodology. THE revised and improved its methodology for its World University Rankings 2024, adding new metrics relating to research quality and patents. The methodological change has highlighted performances from universities in research that were not previously completely visible.
The addition of the new patent metric, part of the industry pillar, allows the transfer of knowledge from academia to industry to be measured. Nineteen Asian universities scored 100 on this metric, with four institutions each from Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea achieving this.
*Reporter status means that although the institution submitted data, it did not meet THE’s eligibility criteria to receive a ranked position.