Japan University Rankings 2017

The inaugural Times Higher Education Japan University Rankings 2017, based on 11 individual performance metrics, are designed to answer the questions that matter most to students and their families when making one of the most important decisions of their lives – who to trust with their education. These questions include: does the university have sufficient resources to teach me properly? Will I be taught to top global standards and given an opportunity to develop my abilities? Does my university produce graduates that the market wants? Will I meet people from other countries? Does the university have a good academic reputation?

THE analysed and ranked 406 universities. Here, we display the top-ranked 150 universities by overall score, as well as any other university that is in the top 150 for any of the four performance pillars (resources, engagement, outcomes and environment). Scores in each pillar are provided when the university is in the top 150, while a dash (“–”) indicates that the institution is not ranked in the top 150 for that pillar.

When sorting by overall rank, you will see the top 150 universities. Institutions outside the top 150 are shown with a banded rank (“151+”) and a banded score (“9.4-38.2”: these two numbers represent the lowest and highest scores of all universities ranked outside the top 150), and are displayed in alphabetical order.

The new Japan ranking is led by the National Seven Universities: the University of Tokyo, Tohoku University, Kyoto University, Nagoya University, Osaka University, Kyushu University and Hokkaido University. The Tokyo Institute of Technology is the only institution outside this elite group to make the top eight, in joint fourth place. Meanwhile, Waseda University and Keio University are the country’s top private institutions in 10th and 11th place, respectively.

The student-focused nature of the Japan University Rankings differs significantly from the THE World University Rankings, which are based on a combination of indicators that include a heavy emphasis on research excellence alongside indicators of the teaching environment. The 2016-17 world rankings include just 69 Japanese institutions.

View the Japan University Rankings 2017 methodology 

The calculation of the THE Japan University Rankings 2017 has been subject to independent audit by professional services firm PwC.

Read our full analysis of the THE Japan University Rankings 2017 results

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