By John O'Leary, QS academic advisory board
A university founded only 20 years ago topped the QS Asian University rankings, published in May, defying critics who claim that long-established universities have an insuperable advantage in such comparisons.
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology moved up from second place in 2010, overtaking its much older neighbour, Hong Kong University, which topped the ranking in its first two years of publication. HKUST, which is the youngest university in the top 100 of the QS World University Rankings, benefited particularly from the high level of productivity of its researchers proved decisive, as demonstrated by the number of published papers per member of faculty. The extra bibliometric measure, in addition to the number of citations per faculty member, is one of the differences between the Asian and world rankings published by QS.
The aim is to reach deeper into the continent’s higher education systems and reflect different priorities. The use of papers per member of faculty, for example, gives more recognition to research published in languages that limit the scope for widespread citation. The National University of Singapore remains in third place in the latest ranking, while the Tokyo Institute of Technology is the only new entrant to the top ten. The biggest rise in the top 30 has been achieved by Sungkyunkwan University, in South Korea, which has moved up from outside the top 40 to 26th place. Nationally, the strongest performance is by Japan, which has five universities in the top ten and eight in the top 20. With 25 universities in the top 100, led by the University of Tokyo in fourth place, and 56 in the top 200, Japan’s success is a reward for considerable investment in higher education. The universities have also benefited from much greater autonomy in recent years.
Hong Kong’s continued strong showing in the Asian rankings, with four universities in the top 20 and all six in the top 50, contrasts with continuing disappointment for mainland China. Although Peking and Tsinghua universities remain in the top 20, China has only 14 universities in the top 100, making only marginal progress since last year. The much smaller system in South Korea outperforms China at the top of the rankings. It has four institutions in the top 20, led by Seoul National University, and 16 in the top 100. However, Richard Holmes, a frequent commentator on rankings, writing in University World News, had a different slant on the results, noting that more Japanese universities were falling than rising, while Chinese and Korean universities were generally on the rise. “This could be part of a permanent shift in the world balance of academic power.
It still remains to be seen, though, whether China, Korea and Southeast Asia can go on to produce research of a high quality.” Twelve countries are represented in the 2011 rankings, one more than last year since the inclusion of the University of Dhaka, in Bangladesh. Although the results show excellence to be widely spread through Asia, countries such as Vietnam and Sri Lanka remain conspicuous by their absence. The highest new entrant is Tokyo University of Science, which makes its debut in 59th place.
Pakistan’s National University of Science and Technology and Taiwan’s Taipei Medical University have also come straight into the top 100. This year, for the first time, scores are subject to the same statistical process – the application of z-scores - that is used in the world rankings and other similar exercises in other fields. The process ensures that high scores on any one indicator do not have a disproportionate effect on the overall results.
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