NUS still world's 25th top uni, NTU rises to 47th place, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
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NUS still world's 25th top uni, NTU rises to 47th place

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The National University of Singapore (NUS) retained its position as the world's 25th top university and Asia's third best, according to the Times Higher Education rankings released yesterday.

China's Tsinghua University, Asia's top university, became the first university in the region to break into the global top 20 when it was ranked by the higher education publication in 20th place.

Peking University, ranked second in Asia, was placed in the 23rd position globally.

The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) moved up one place to the 47th position this year.

Times Higher Education had assessed universities on 13 performance indicators grouped into five areas: Teaching (the learning environment); research (volume, income and reputation); citations (research influence); international outlook (staff, students and research); and industry income (knowledge transfer).

Britain's University of Oxford retained its top spot for the fifth consecutive year.

It was followed by four universities in the United States - Stanford, Harvard, the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Commenting on Tsinghua University's rise, Times Higher Education said the institution's achievement is an indicator of the wider positive movements in higher education for mainland China, and the rest of Asia in recent years.

There are 16 Asian universities in the top 100.

Mr Phil Baty, chief knowledge officer at the publication, said the trend of universities in Asia doing better is likely to accelerate further.

He added that the coronavirus pandemic heralds huge challenges for primarily western universities, particularly those in the US and Britain, "who face the very real risk of losing significant international student talent, and the billions of dollars in fees that they bring".

NUS said it was heartened to be ranked among the leading universities in the world.

It added that, now more than ever, universities play a critical role as a conduit for learning and innovation - to equip students, industries and countries for a post-coronavirus world.

NTU said the Times Higher Education ranking is yet another indicator of its continued upward trajectory in all the major global indexes.