By Sharon See, Channel NewsAsia, 4 Oct 2012
Two of Singapore's universities are now among the top 100 universities in the world, according to the latest edition of Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
In particular, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has jumped over 80 spots in a university ranking to reach 86th place in the London-based rankings.
The National University of Singapore (NUS) climbed 11 positions and is now ranked 29th.
Strong research, a stellar cast of scientists and firm industry links are some of the factors that have propelled NTU in the ranking this year.
The good news comes barely a month after NTU scaled another London-based university rankings QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) to reach the top 50.
NTU President Professor Bertil Andersson credited generous government fundings as one of the reasons the university was able to expand in the last few years.
Prof Andersson said: "What I think is important as a university leader is that you know you don't become tactical and say, 'If I do this and if I do that, I will increase in ranking'. One should stick to one's philosophy. And NTU, of course we have our five peaks of excellence where we want to put our money.
"We want to form our education that is more modern education, less spoon-feeding and so on. And so this we're going to do, and we're going to work with industry and if that pays off in ranking, it's fine."
With a medical school set to open next year, Prof Andersson said the university will focus on making it a success.
NUS climbed 11 notches to 29th place in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, excelling in the areas of engineering and technology and life sciences.
NUS President Professor Tan Chorh Chuan said the university won't rest on its laurels.
Prof Tan said: "For NUS, of course, our goal is to continue to move ahead and to forge. The competition is extremely intense. It comes in the developed countries where there're very well-established universities.
"It's coming from rapidly growing Asian countries - China, Korea - so we need to be very mindful that external environment outside of Singapore is extremely competitive. It means that all of us, NUS, NTU, other universities here, we actually have to run as fast as we can."
NUS hopes to improve the learning experience for students by giving them more personal attention, especially for popular courses like economics and psychology.
Moving ahead, both NTU and NUS said they hope to forge greater collaboration across different disciplines.
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