Wednesday 15 June 2016

NUS named top Asian university in QS University Rankings Asia 2016 & Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2016


NUS named top Asian university for third straight year; NTU at No. 3: QS University Rankings Asia 2016
By Sandra Davie, Senior Education Correspondent, The Straits Times, 14 Jun 2016

The National University of Singapore (NUS) has kept the top spot in an annual ranking of Asian universities, while Nanyang Technological University (NTU) moved up one place to third.

Singapore Management University (SMU) entered the rankings for the first time in 60th place.

London-based education and career consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), which is releasing its rankings this morning, has expanded the top Asian universities list to include the region's 350 best universities, 50 more than in the previous year. QS has also added another metric - staff with a PhD - in order to add another dimension to its analyses of teaching quality.

The QS Asia University Rankings uses 10 key performance indicators to compare Asian universities, including academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty-student ratio, papers per faculty, the proportion of international faculty and students, and proportion of inbound and outbound exchange students.



QS said NUS, ranked No. 1 for the third year running, achieved a perfect score in four metrics: academic reputation; employer reputation; citations per paper, which measures research impact; and international faculty, measuring an institution's ability to attract staff worldwide.

NTU also achieved a perfect score in four metrics: employer reputation; citations per paper; international faculty; and the proportion of outbound exchange students, which is used to assess a university's success in forging international partnerships with universities worldwide.

NUS president Tan Chorh Chuan said strong government support has enabled the local universities to push for excellence.

He added: "At NUS, our priority is in preparing future-ready graduates and developing top talent, driving innovation and forging strategic collaborations with academic and industry partners, and delivering impact from world-class research."

NTU president Bertil Andersson noted that NTU, despite strong competition from older and more established universities, stands out as No. 1 in Asia for citations per paper.

"This good result is further proof that NTU's investments in research have paid off," he said.

Asked to comment on SMU's debut in the rankings, QS said it included the 16-year-old institution this year as it now offers degrees in information systems and social sciences.

It called SMU's 60th placing a "great achievement" as it is not a comprehensive university. It added that SMU ranks 25th regionally for citations per paper and had perfect scores for two indicators of internationalisation: international faculty and outbound exchange students.

SMU provost Lily Kong said the university "is highly committed to delivering high-quality teaching and research, for which ranking is only one possible - if imperfect - indicator".

The University of Hong Kong retained its second place, while China's Tsinghua University rose six places to fifth. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology was placed fourth.





























Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2016






NUS, NTU seize top two spots in Times ranking of Asian universities
Singapore's rankings success attributed to focused strategies, sustained govt funding
By Sandra Davie, Senior Education Correspondent, The Straits Times, 21 Jun 2016

Just last week, Singapore's two most established universities were ranked first and third in a ranking of Asian universities.

This week, they have seized the top two spots in another list of Asia's best universities.

The National University of Singapore (NUS) took first place, while Nanyang Technological University (NTU) was placed second with Peking University in the London-based Times Higher Education Magazine rankings for Asia.

The University of Hong Kong took the fourth position, while China's Tsinghua University was ranked fifth, in the rankings that are being released this morning.

Last year, NUS came in second, while NTU was placed 10th.

Times Higher Education rankings editor Phil Baty said: "Singapore has sealed its place as one of Asia's top university nations."

He noted that Singapore's rankings success comes from focused strategies and substantial and sustained higher education funding from the Government, citing the $16.1 billion that the Singapore Government pumped in under the last Research, Innovation and Enterprise Plan from 2011 to 2015.

He said: "This ranking cements Singapore as a prime case study of how to challenge elite Western institutions and become a rising university star."

NUS president Tan Chorh Chuan said he was delighted at NUS' good showing but said the university will need to be even more strategic and adaptive in the coming years, given the massification of higher education and the shifting nature of jobs.

Commenting on the two latest rankings, NTU president Bertil Andersson said both lists show that NTU has moved swiftly in recent years to innovate in teaching and produce research with a far-reaching global impact.

He added that the Times ranking shows that Singapore is now the top city in Asia for higher education.

The Times ranking uses 13 key performance indicators to reflect a university's strengths in five areas: teaching, research, citation, industry income and global outlook.

The indicators used are the same as those used in the magazine's World University Rankings, but with a difference in the weighting given to various indicators.

Times Higher Education said that following consultation with universities across Asia, it decided to place less emphasis on reputation elements but emphasise industry income and research income, as well as productivity, in terms of publications. Mr Baty said NUS did well in all the measures but its strength in research really stands out.

NTU, he said, is no doubt one of "the most exciting - and closely watched - universities in the world".

In the rankings released last week, London-based education consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds placed NUS first and NTU third.

Singapore Management University entered the rankings for the first time in 60th place.

University league tables have proliferated in recent years and university officials say parents and students are increasingly referring to them. In some countries, governments use them to make funding decisions.
















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