Singapore Leads The Asian Pack For QS’ 2015/2016 Ranking

The 2015/2016 Top Universities Ranking from Quacquarelli Symonds Company placed NUS and NTU at 12th and 13th, respectively.

AsianScientist (Sep. 25, 2015) – The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, the University of Cambridge and Stanford University have been recognized as the top three academic institutions by the 2015/2016 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Top Universities Rankings.

Singapore’s National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) raised their rankings this year, coming in at 12th and 13th, respectively. This was a great leap from last year’s 22nd and 39th place, for NUS and NTU respectively. These new rankings placed NUS and NTU ahead of other prestigious institutions such as Yale University (15th) and King’s College London (19th).

Other Asian universities clinching a spot in the top 50 list are Tsinghua University (25th), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (28th), The University of Hong Kong (30th), Seoul National University (36th), Kyoto University (38th), University of Tokyo (39th), Peking University (41st) and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (43rd).

According to a press release from QS Company, 76,798 academics and 44,226 employers’ responses were collected and analyzed, making this survey the largest of its kind in the world. Moreover, 11.1 million papers indexed by Scopus/Elsevier bibliometrics database were analyzed. 3,539 institutions were considered for inclusion this year, and 891 were ranked.

The metrics used to rank the universities include academic reputation (40 percent), employer reputation (10 percent), student-to-faculty ratio (20 percent), citations per faculty (20 percent), international faculty ratio (five percent) and international student ratio (five percent).

In particular, there was a modification in the approach to “citations per faculty” this year. This year, the measure of research impact was given a fairer evaluation for universities with a strong prolife in areas with lower research activities, like the arts, humanities and social sciences. For instance, London School of Economics (35th), usually overshadowed by other research-intensive institutions, is now better recognized than before.

“These latest results reveal more diversity than ever in the distribution of world-class universities at the highest levels. We’re providing prospective students with the richest picture yet,” said Ben Stower, the head of QS research in a press release.

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Source: Asian Scientist Magazine; Photo: Shutterstock.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

Ying Ying completed her PhD in neurobiology at the University of Basel, where she studied the role of bone morphogenetic protein in structural plasticity of neurons.

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