Thai varsities lose ground in Asia
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Though KMUTT, Mahidol stay in region's top 100, both slide in the rankings
Two Thai universities have continued to rank among the Times Higher Education list of Asia’s best universities this year, but both have slipped.
King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) is now ranked 55th on the list, down from 50th last year.
Mahidol University, meanwhile, sits in 91st place. Last year, it was in the 82nd spot.
“It should be cause for concern that both of Thailand’s representatives in the Asian top 100 have lost ground; indeed, Mahidol University has fallen a dramatic 30 places since 2013,” said Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education rankings.
He said that while the Thai government’s National Research Universities Project had pumped money into its institutions, the nation would have to dig deeper to ensure it does not get left behind.
Last year, Chulalongkorn University – one of Thailand’s prestigious universities – slipped out of the top 100 rankings.
While such a trend does not bode well for Thai higher educational institutions, Thailand remains one of only two Asean nations on the list. The other is Singapore, which has two institutes on the list. Both are highly placed: The National University of Singapore retains second place, while Nanyang Technological University moves into the top 10 for the first time.
On top of the “Asia University Rankings 2015” is the University of Tokyo. Altogether, Japan has 19 representatives on the list.
When it comes to the number of universities among Asia’s 100 best, however, Japan trails China this year. For the first time ever, mainland China dominates the rankings with as many as 21 representatives.
China’s special administrative regions also do well, with six universities from Hong Kong (two in the top 10) and one from Macau represented.
“The world expects that Asia will be the next global higher-education superpower, after Europe and North America.
These new data from Times Higher Education demonstrate that many of the continent’s leading universities are already competing on equal terms with the best in the West,” Baty said.
He said the table also showed the region’s huge academic potential, a region now led by China, whose academia is “reaping the rewards of serious, sustained investment and internationalisation – a model for other Asian nations to follow”.
