NTU, NUS move up in THE World University Rankings

SINGAPORE — The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) both saw improvements this year in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2014–15.

NTU leapt 15 spots to place 61st, while NUS moved up a notch from last year’s 26th spot to rank 25th.

For the second year in a row, NTU also scored full marks and maintained its No 1 global position for industry income and innovation.

At the same time, NUS placed among the global top 50 universities in all the six subjects measured: Engineering & Technology (13th), Social Sciences (29th), Life Sciences (34th), Physical Sciences (41st), Arts & Humanities (42nd) and Clinical, Pre-clinical & Health (44th) .

Mr Phil Baty, editor of the THE World University Rankings, said he agreed with Professor Simon Marginson, a professor of international education at the UK’s Institute of Education, who said that NUS has “arguably the most successful global strategy of any university in the world”.

The rankings charted NUS’ progress from 40th place in 2011–12 to reach the world’s top 25 for the first time ever this year, he noted.

Mr Baty also called NTU “the outstanding success story of the THE World University Rankings”, adding that it has “moved up the prestigious league table an extraordinary 108 places in the last three years, making it the best performer in the top 200 in recent times”.

Calling the rankings “the most balanced of all global rankings”, Mr Baty said it has proven itself against globally trusted, rigorous and comprehensive performance benchmarks.

The rankings are based on 13 separate performance indicators that cover the range of a global university’s core missions like teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

NUS President Tan Chorh Chuan said the university was “delighted” that it has continued to advance steadily in the rankings and noted that it was “one of only two Asian universities to be amongst the world’s top 25”.

“We take pride in achieving our best performance in the rankings since it was introduced in 2010. Our consistently strong performance in international rankings is an affirmation of NUS’ top quality education and research, as well as wider impact of our work. This is also the result of the strong commitment to excellence by our faculty, staff and students,” said Prof Tan.

NTU president Bertil Andersson said the ranking is “another milestone for our young university, which has also been on an upward trend in other global leagues”.

“By continuing to attract the best and brightest professors and students from Singapore and around the world, I expect that NTU will break into the Times Higher’s top 50 universities in a few years’ time,” he added.

The full results of the THE World University Rankings 2014–15 are available at www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/