The global rankings of National Taiwan University (NTU) and three other leading national universities that did particularly well last year have dived in a recent assessment made by the Times Higher Education (THE) magazine published on Wednesday.
NTU’s world ranking dropped from 115th last year to 154th in the 2011-2012 THE World University Rankings.
National Tsing Hua University tumbled from 105th last year to between 201st and 255th in the new rankings, followed by National Sun Yat-Sen University, which fell from 163rd to between 251st and 275th in the same period.
National Chiao Tung University also dropped from 181st last year to between 226th and 250th this year.
Some universities that made the 261st-400th cut last year did not make the cut this year, including National Cheng Kung University, National Chung Hsing University and National Chung Cheng University.
Universities ranking lower than 200 are not assigned individual rankings, but are presented by range.
The universities might be disappointed with this year’s outcome, but the massive slide in rankings occurred because of changes made in the assessment procedures and the complicated evaluation process, THE deputy editor Phil Baty said.
Competition was also more fierce this year, with a growing number of new universities submitting information for evaluation, Baty added.
Overall, Taiwanese universities’ performances were acceptable, but changes made in assessment weighting put them at a disadvantage, Baty said.
If Taiwanese universities want to raise their global rankings, they needed to improve in the area of international research by attracting top scholars and international students, employing more foreign staff and training doctoral students, Baty said.
Other areas where improvements need to be made include cooperation with top academics and institutes, publishing higher quality research papers and increasing international influence and visibility in the global academic community, he said.
Criteria weighting for this year’s rankings was changed to 30 percent each for teaching, research and citations, international outlook accounted for 7.5 percent and industry outcome for 2.5 percent.
More than 17,500 international academics and experts were interviewed when compiling the list.
This is the eighth year THE has conducted its world university rankings.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai