Region's varsities star among top 100 list

Universities in South Korea have been named among the world’s top three |best young universities in the Times Higher Education (THE) ranking.

South Korea’s Pohang University of Science and Technology (Postech) heads the list of top 100 universities under 50 years old for the second consecutive year, while fellow institution Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) moves up to third from the fifth place. Meanwhile, Switzerland’s Ecole Polytechnique Federale of Lausanne took the second place for a second consecutive year.

Apart from South Korea, other Asian countries also made an impressive showing in the under-50 rankings, though there is no place for China or India. 

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology was in the fourth place, while Singapore entered the top-10 list for the first time, with its Nanyang Technological University moving into eighth place.

 

BEST OVER ALL

Apart from the University of Science and Technology, the four other institutions managed to beat Taiwan’s five institutions among the 100 universities, giving it a stronger overall points tally.

Though Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey make the list, but there is no room at the top for India, mainland China or Russia. 

It was also bad news for Malaysia as it lost its top-100 place this year.

The United Kingdom had the most representatives on the list, with 18 top 100 institutions (down from 20 last year), followed by Australia with 13.

The 2013 edition of the annual Times Higher Education 100 journal for under-50 ranking was published in London yesterday. 

The 2013 ranking uses the same comprehensive list of 13 performance indicators that underpin the prestigious THE World University Rankings, but employs a specially re-calibrated methodology (developed in consultation with experts) to better capture the characteristics of young institutions, according to Phil Baty, editor of the THE Rankings. 

“The THE 100 under-50 rankings also serve as a warning to Western governments that enjoy great economic returns from established, world-leading higher education systems without investing in the future. 

“Through investment, innovation and strategic vision, East Asian nations have been able to build world-class institutions quickly – and many more nations are following suit. 

“These rankings prove that the competition for future world dominance in higher education and research is wide open,” Baty said. 

Fifty million citations were analysed and compared with the world average from the same field. It had the world’s largest academic reputation survey (16,600 academics). 

The 13 indicators across research, teaching, knowledge transfer and international activity areas were taken into account.

 

For more information, visit www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings.