Singapore has the continent’s best university for the third year in a row but China’s stars are in the ascendant, says Ellie Bothwell
The National University of Singapore is Asia’s top university for the third year in a row, according to Times Higher Education’s annual rankings of the region.
Singapore’s flagship institution holds on to the number one spot in the THE Asia University Rankings 2018 after improving its teaching and research environments, achieving a higher citation impact and securing higher levels of industry income.
Meanwhile, Tsinghua University has overtaken Peking University to become the top Chinese institution in the table for the first time in the rankings’ six-year history. Tsinghua has a much stronger publication output than Peking and increased its research income at a faster rate than its Beijing rival.
Overall, China has 63 universities in the rankings, many of which have made progress this year, including several of its lower-ranked institutions.
However, Japan is once again the most-represented nation in the list, boasting 89 universities.
There is also success for Hong Kong, which has three universities in the top 10, more than any other territory, and six universities in the top 60.
In Southeast Asia, Malaysia’s flagship institution, the University of Malaya, joins the top 50 for the first time, and Indonesia has doubled its representation, claiming four spaces in the table, up from two last year.
But most of Thailand’s 10 institutions have fallen down the table as the country grapples with an ageing population and oversupply of higher education. Taiwan has also suffered declines for these reasons.
Other nations are feeling the competition in the world’s largest continent. While India, Pakistan, South Korea and Turkey have all increased their overall representation, several of their universities have fallen down the list.
This year’s table ranks just over 350 universities, up from about 300 last year. These universities come from 25 countries/regions.
Asia University Rankings 2018: the top 10
| Asia University Ranking 2018 | Asia University Ranking 2017 | Position in World University Rankings 2018 | Institution | Country/region |
| 1 | 1 | =22 | National University of Singapore | Singapore |
| 2 | 3 | 30 | Tsinghua University | China |
| 3 | 2 | =27 | Peking University | China |
| 4 | 5 | 40 | University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong |
| =5 | 6 | 44 | Hong Kong University of Science and Technology | Hong Kong |
| =5 | 4 | 52 | Nanyang Technological University | Singapore |
| 7 | 11 | 58 | Chinese University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong |
| 8 | 7 | 46 | University of Tokyo | Japan |
| 9 | 9 | =74 | Seoul National University | South Korea |
| 10 | 8 | =95 | Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) | South Korea |
