Seven Taiwanese universities were ranked among the top 100 in Times Higher Education magazine’s Asia-Pacific University Ranking released on Tuesday, with National Taiwan University (NTU) ranking the highest at No. 33.
The nation had 26 institutions listed in the rankings, which were conducted for the first time and listed the top 241 universities in 38 nations in East Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania.
The survey judged universities based on 13 performance indicators in five areas: teaching (learning environment), research (volume, income and reputation), citations (research influence), international outlook (staff, students and research) and industry income (transfer of knowledge).
Taiwan excelled in transferring knowledge, but was weak in international outlook, which was the strength of Australia and New Zealand, global rankings editorial director Phil Baty said.
The nation should attract more international students and teachers, and expand cooperation with overseas academics to help it move up in the rankings, he said.
The most represented nation was Japan, with 69 universities making the list.
China came in second with 52, followed by Australia (35), Taiwan (26), South Korea (25) and Thailand (9).
The National University of Singapore topped the rankings, followed by Peking University, the University of Melbourne, Tsinghua University and Nanyang Technological University.
Rounding out the top 10 were the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Australian National University, the University of Tokyo and the University of Queensland.
Aside from NTU, the six other Taiwanese schools in the top 100 were National Tsing Hua University (No. 47), National Chiao Tung University (No. 53), National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (No. 57), National Cheng Kung University (No. 65), China Medical University (No. 84) and National Taiwan Normal University (No. 99).
Outside the top 100, the survey ranked schools in groups of 10.
National Sun Yat-sen University and Taipei Medical University ranked between No. 101 and No. 110, National Central University and National Yang Ming University ranked between No. 111 and No. 120, and Chang Kung University was between No. 121 and No. 130.
Feng Chia University ranked between No. 141 and No. 150; Kaohsiung Medical University and National Taiwan Ocean University placed between No. 151 and No. 160; and Chung Yuan University, National Chung Cheng University and National Chung Hsing University all finished between No. 161 and No. 170.
Asia University, National Taipei University of Technology and Yuan Ze University ranked between No. 171 and No. 180.
The five Taiwanese universities that placed outside the top 200 were Fu Jen Catholic University, I-Shou University, Ming Chuan University, National Chengchi University and Tamkang University.
The magazine also published its annual Asia University Ranking list in March, in which NTU placed 24th from 15th last year.
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