Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has again been named the world's best young university by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).
This is the seventh consecutive year NTU has topped the education consultancy's Top 50 Under 50 ranking, released yesterday. It is a league table of the world's academic institutions that were established within the last 50 years.
In another ranking of young universities released yesterday, by London-based leading education magazine Times Higher Education (THE), NTU moved up one notch to second place, behind Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
QS research director Ben Sowter praised NTU for its "amazing ascending trajectory in the QS rankings".
Mr Phil Baty, THE's chief knowledge officer, said: "NTU's rapid development has been so extraordinary that it is already clearly established as one of the world's leading universities. But this focused ranking, looking only at institutions under 50 years of age, really highlights the exceptional progress NTU has made on the world stage in a matter of a few decades."
Such rankings, though, come at a time when higher education has been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, with campus closures and teaching and examinations moving online. It has also led to calls to pause these rankings.
NTU president Subra Suresh said: "The Covid-19 global pandemic has reinforced to the entire world the important role and significant value of universities for societies... NTU Singapore is proud that our dynamic campus community has played its part, in collaboration with many others, in supporting the global, regional and national responses to the pandemic.
"Whether we are dealing with a global pandemic, climate change, societal disruptions arising from the fourth industrial revolution, or any other major challenge faced by the world today, we see that young Asian universities such as NTU are punching above their weight in creating new knowledge and technologies and in benefiting society."
The QS Top 50 Under 50 applies the same methodology used in its world rankings based on six indicators: academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per faculty member, faculty/student ratio, international faculty ratio and international student ratio.
THE's Young University Ranking compares universities below 50 years of age, based on research, teaching, citations, international outlook and industry income.
