Two of Singapore’s public universities are ranked among the top 20 universities worldwide, according to Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings for 2019 released earlier this month.
The National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have also jointly secured a place at the top of the world-renowned higher education consultancy’s list of Asia’s best universities in the rankings’ 15th edition.
“Prolonged appearances among the global top 20 have ensured that Singapore’s leading universities have earned the right to classify themselves among the world’s leading universities, according to our methodology and data set,” said QS research director Ben Sowter.
The rise of NTU by 10 positions, and landing on the 36th place for research citations per faculty, indicates “the prospect of a Singaporean university entering the world’s top 10 increase” with its marked improvement, according to QS.
NTU also recorded higher scores than NUS in terms of research citations per faculty and faculty-to-student ratio, both of which measure the impact of institutional research.
NUS appears to fare slightly better in terms of employer and academic reputation, sitting at 11th place above NTU globally while NTU lands the 12th spot.
Senior Assistant Director at the NTU Corporate Communications Office Feisal Abdul Rahman said in a statement on Wed (19 Jun) regarding the university’s meteoric rise in the QS World University Rankings: “NTU’s current phase of growth in global stature began in January 2018 with the appointment of eminent American scientist and academic leader, Professor Subra Suresh, as its fourth president.
“Prof Suresh and his new leadership team have introduced a number of new initiatives and programmes in education, research and innovation. The new leadership team, along with the academic units, has overseen within the past year and a half the recruitment of top talent to NTU, comprising highly accomplished faculty members from Singapore and around the world,” he added.
NTU’s launch of the Presidential Post-doctoral Fellows programme last year, which has attracted applications from nearly 900 young scholars from top institutions around the world for only 12 positions this year, has also contributed to the university’s improved rankings.
The university has also established the NTU Institute of Science and Technology for Humanity (NISTH) in March this year “to study the impact of technology on society, and to bring industry, government and academia together to find ways to enhance the use of technology for the betterment of humanity and society”.
An NUS spokesperson said regarding the university’s rankings in the QS list this year: “We are honoured that many academics and employers around the world continue to regard NUS as among the best in Asia and globally.”
“The remarkable global standing of our local universities attests to the quality of Singapore’s higher education system,” the spokesperson added.
QS’ World University Rankings were made based on what QS’ has revealed to be its “most extensive list to date”, comprising “1000 of the world’s best universities from 85 different countries”.
The global higher education consultancy utilises six metrics in evaluating the position of universities on its list, namely academic reputation (40 per cent), faculty/student ratio (20 per cent), citations per faculty (20 per cent), employer reputation (10 per cent), international faculty ratio (5 per cent) and international student ratio (5 per cent).