Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed.
Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said.
Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent in Employer Reputation, following a survey of 98,000 hiring managers, human resources workers and talent managers who listed their preferred universities when running recruitment drives.
“Taiwan, home to 24 million people, is a cornerstone of academic prowess in Asia, boasting the second-highest concentration of ranked universities per capita in the region in the 14th edition of the QS World University Rankings,” QS senior vice president Ben Sowter said.
“This remarkable feat not only underscores the robustness of Taiwan’s higher education system but also speaks volumes about its regional and global competitiveness,” he said.
Taiwan’s higher education landscape has made notable strides this year, Sowter said, adding that “significant improvements in research impact indicators signal a burgeoning influence on the global academic stage.”
However, Sowter said that the challenges Taiwan still faces, evidenced by its declines in the Employer Reputation and International Research Network indicators, which he said served as a reminder of the importance of fostering stronger ties with employers and diversifying research collaboration.
Sowter highlighted National Taiwan University (NTU) as being renowned for its stellar performance and unwavering commitment to innovation.
NTU, which consistently ranks in the top 10 in Asia, is a testament to Taiwan’s academic prestige, he said.
This year’s edition of the QS World University Rankings by Subject is an independent, comparative analysis of the academic excellence and influence of more than 1,500 universities in 96 countries and territories, across 55 academic disciplines and five broad faculty areas.
NTU appeared in 44 of the 55 subjects evaluated and was the highest-ranked Taiwanese university. It featured in the global top 20 for Classics and Ancient History, and the top 50 for Library and Information Management, Social Policy and Administration, Modern Languages and Sociology.
Other Taiwanese universities featured in the global top 50 were Taipei Medical University (25th, Nursing), National Taiwan Normal University (27th, Education), National Chengchi University (30th, Classics and Ancient History) and National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism (38th, Hospitality and Leisure Management).
NTU secured the ninth spot in Asia with 32 entries in the top 100.
The university also shared seventh spot in Asia for its number of top 200 entries, along with the National University of Singapore and Peking University, with all three institutions having 44 entries in the tier.
Taiwan has the second-highest concentration of ranked universities per capita in Asia, with one ranked university per 956,931 people, following Hong Kong, which had one ranked university per 832,401 people.
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