Browse the THE Asia University Rankings 2020 results
China is home to the top two universities in Asia for the first time in Times Higher Education’s latest ranking for the region.
Tsinghua University holds on to first place in the THE Asia University Rankings 2020 for the second year, while Peking University climbs three places to second. The National University of Singapore, which led the Asia ranking between 2016 and 2018, slips one place to third. Peking’s rise is largely the result of its improved scores in the areas of research environment and industry income.
Meanwhile, the University of Science and Technology of China is the only new entry in the top 10, having climbed two places to joint 10th. Mainland China has seven universities in the top 20.
The country’s continued rise follows its ascent in the 2020 World University Rankings. The Asia league table is calculated using the same metrics as the global ranking, but more weight is given to knowledge transfer, research income and research productivity, while teaching and research reputation count for less. This reflects Asian universities’ close ties to industry as well as the fact they tend to be younger than their Western counterparts and, therefore, are typically not as well known or well regarded across the world.
Japan is once again the most-represented nation in the ranking, with 110 institutions, compared with 81 from China and 56 from India. Japan’s top-ranked institution, The University of Tokyo, is seventh, up from eighth last year.
The University of Hong Kong now leads the special administrative region of China again, after it was pipped to the post by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for the first time last year. HKU remains in fourth, while HKUST drops two places to fifth.
The top newcomer in the table is Macau University of Science and Technology, which debuts at 32nd place, thanks to its strong scores for international outlook and citation impact, while the University of Macau climbs five places to 37th. Beijing Normal University and the Indian Institute of Technology Ropar also feature in the top 50 in their inaugural showing.
THE Asia University Rankings 2020: the top 10
| 2020 rank | 2019 rank | Institution | Country/region |
| 1 | 1 | Tsinghua University | China |
| 2 | 5 | Peking University | China |
| 3 | 2 | National University of Singapore | Singapore |
| 4 | 4 | University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong |
| 5 | 3 | The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology | Hong Kong |
| 6 | 6 | Nanyang Technological University, Singapore | Singapore |
| 7 | 8 | The University of Tokyo | Japan |
| 8 | 7 | Chinese University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong |
| 9 | 9 | Seoul National University | South Korea |
| =10 | 12 | University of Science and Technology of China | China |
| =10 | 10 | Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) | South Korea |
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