NTU ranked 120th best university in the world

London and Taipei, Sept. 12 (CNA) National Taiwan University (NTU) jumped 50 places to become the 120th ranked university in the world out of 1,396 evaluated, according to the Times Higher Education (THE) report released Wednesday.

Published for the 16th year, the London-based magazine's World University Rankings 2020 included almost 1,400 universities from 92 countries and regions, making it the largest and most diverse university rankings to date.

The performance of universities is measured using 13 indicators in five main categories -- teaching, research, citations, international outlook and industry income, which refers to a university's ability to support industry with innovation.

NTU was among the 36 Taiwanese universities included in the report and saw the greatest improvement in its ranking, with an overall score of 59.9 points.

Li Pai-chi (李百祺), who heads the Office of Research and Development at NTU, said the school has made great strides in all of the five key categories measured by THE, with the largest improvements in research.

Last year, Taiwan's top university was ranked 170th, with an overall score of 55.5.

NTU is an institution that focuses on quality over quantity, especially in the field of research, Li said, noting however that the school also needs to strengthen its efforts to attract more overseas students, by for example offering international scholarships.

National Tsing Hua University and Taipei Medical University were ranked in the 351-400 range.

China Medical University, National Chiao Tung University, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, and National Yang-Ming University were ranked 501-600.

National Cheng Kung University and National Taiwan Normal University were ranked 601-800, while the remaining local schools were ranked above 801.

According to the World University Rankings 2020 report, the University of Oxford was ranked first for the fourth year in a row, while the University of Cambridge fell to third.

The California Institute of Technology rose three places to second, while Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Harvard University, Yale University, the University of Chicago and Imperial College London all appeared in the top 10.