National Taiwan University ranks 26th in Asia in latest QS rankings

London, Nov. 6 (CNA) National Taiwan University (NTU) remained Taiwan's top-ranking institution in the latest Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) 2025 Asia University Rankings, despite dropping five places from the previous year.

NTU and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, each earning 85.5 points, tied for 26th place in the rankings released Wednesday. Seven other domestic universities made it to the top 100, including National Tsing Hua University in 39th, National Cheng Kung University in 41st and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in 42nd.

NTU fell to 21st place in the 2024 rankings, marking its first drop after peaking at 19th from 2021 to 2023.

Meanwhile, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, which moved up five places from 47th last year, was the only Taiwanese university in the top 50 to make progress. Its placing 42nd marks the university's best ranking in its four-year history.

Other local universities ranked in the top 100 included National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (66th), National Taiwan Normal University (79th), National Sun Yat-sen University (83rd) and National Taipei University of Technology (91st).

NTU scored highest among Taiwanese universities in the "Academic Reputation" and "Employer Reputation" categories, which account for 30 percent and 20 percent of the overall score, respectively.

National Tsing Hua University and National Cheng Kung University also ranked in the top 50 in Asia for these two metrics, while National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University ranked in the top 50 for employer reputation.

QS's 2025 rankings, the 16th edition of the report, featured 984 universities from 25 countries and territories across Asia. Of the 48 Taiwanese universities included, 17 rose in the rankings, 16 declined, 13 remained unchanged and two made their debut.

According to QS Senior Vice President Ben Sowter, Taiwanese universities have a strong reputation among employers and academics but face challenges from regional peers in research output and impact. The country's declining student enrollment, driven by demographic shifts, is also placing additional pressure on many institutions.

Sowter noted that the Taiwanese government has increased funding to support students at private universities and invested more in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) research, though the impact of these efforts remains to be seen.

Five additional Taiwanese universities ranked between 101st and 200th: National Central University (112th), National Chung Hsing University (120th), Taipei Medical University (122nd), National Chengchi University (123rd) and National Chung Cheng University (189th).

The top four universities remained unchanged from the previous edition, with Peking University, the University of Hong Kong, National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University continuing to top the list.

Peking University has dominated the rankings for three consecutive years with a perfect score of 100.

Rounding out the top 10 from fifth to 10th were Fudan University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Tsinghua University in China, Zhejiang University, Yonsei University in South Korea and the City University of Hong Kong.

With the exception of the City University of Hong Kong, which bounced from 17th place last year, the other top nine universities were ranked in the top 10 in the 2024 rankings.

The QS rankings were first issued in 2004 in conjunction with Times Higher Education (THE) before QS and THE parted ways in 2009 and started producing separate university rankings.