Top 10 Universities in Asia - A Comparison

In the 2009 QS Asian University Rankings, the University of Hong Kong (HKU) was ranked number 1 in Asia, a position it maintained due to its strong academic reputation, research output, and international outlook. HKU's dominance in this ranking highlights Hong Kong’s growing status as a global hub for higher education. The university is known for its excellence in a broad range of disciplines, particularly in the humanities, law, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its high ranking in QS reflects the institution’s global engagement, research initiatives, and its appeal to international students and faculty alike.

Just behind HKU, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) was ranked 2nd in Asia by QS in 2009. Like HKU, CUHK has garnered significant attention for its academic strength and research output. CUHK is particularly renowned for its strong programs in Chinese studies, medicine, and engineering. Its bilingual environment, offering courses in both English and Cantonese, allows it to cater to both local and international students, further strengthening its global reputation.

The University of Tokyo, ranked 3rd in the 2009 QS Asian University Rankings, was Japan’s highest-ranked institution in this table. The university is Japan’s oldest and most prestigious, widely regarded as one of the top universities in Asia and globally. Its research output and academic reputation are unmatched, particularly in fields such as natural sciences, social sciences, and technology. Tokyo University is often seen as the academic hub for many of Japan’s leading researchers and scholars, and its place in the QS top 3 reflects its continued leadership in both national and international education.

Other universities in Japan, including Kyoto University and Osaka University, also perform well in the QS rankings, occupying the 5th and 6th positions in 2009, respectively. Kyoto University, a major research institution, has long been known for its contributions to the sciences, particularly in physics, biology, and engineering. Osaka University is similarly renowned for its engineering and medical programs, and it has garnered recognition for its innovative interdisciplinary research. These universities, alongside Tokyo, underscore Japan’s strong presence in the QS rankings, with multiple institutions consistently placing among the top universities in Asia.

Further down the list in the QS rankings, Peking University, ranked 10th, is the highest-ranked Chinese institution in Asia, sharing the position with the National University of Singapore (NUS). Peking University has long been recognized as the leading university in China, particularly known for its research excellence in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. NUS, on the other hand, is considered the premier university in Singapore and one of the top institutions in Southeast Asia, with its strengths lying in science, engineering, and business. The inclusion of these two universities in the Top 10 of the QS rankings emphasizes the growing influence of China and Southeast Asia in the global higher education arena.

Despite the strong showing of Hong Kong and Japanese universities in the QS rankings, the ARWU and Webometrics rankings offer a different picture, particularly in how they place universities from Hong Kong. According to the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), also known as the Shanghai Rankings, the University of Hong Kong (HKU) is not placed in the Top 10 Asian universities. Instead, it is ranked between 23rd and 42nd in the region. The ARWU rankings, which are based heavily on research output, faculty quality, and academic citations, tend to favor institutions with larger research budgets and longer academic histories. In the ARWU rankings, universities from Japan, South Korea, and China often perform better due to their extensive research infrastructure and high publication output.

For example, the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University consistently perform well in the ARWU rankings, reflecting Japan’s longstanding investment in academic research and its strong infrastructure for scientific inquiry. These universities benefit from a robust culture of innovation and a significant presence in global research networks, which allows them to rank highly on research-centric indicators used by ARWU.

One of the significant differences between the ARWU rankings and those of QS and Webometrics is that ARWU places a much higher emphasis on academic citations, research output, and the number of Nobel laureates and Fields medalists among faculty members. As a result, universities that have a history of groundbreaking scientific research or prestigious awards tend to perform better. This gives institutions like the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, and Peking University an advantage, given their strong contributions to science and technology.

Webometrics, another important global university ranking system, also offers insights into the regional academic landscape. While its methodology includes indicators like web visibility, academic impact, and the number of online publications, it shares some similarities with ARWU in terms of focusing on research visibility. The University of Tokyo and Kyoto University perform strongly in the Webometrics rankings as well, reflecting their significant research output and strong international collaborations. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, on the other hand, does not fare as well in Webometrics, likely due to its focus on local and regional academic impact rather than global visibility in research publications.

The contrast between the QS.com rankings and those of ARWU and Webometrics becomes particularly evident when we look at how universities from Hong Kong are placed. While HKU and CUHK are ranked in the Top 10 in QS, they do not appear in the same position in either ARWU or Webometrics. This discrepancy highlights the different weighting of factors in these rankings. QS places a significant emphasis on global reputation, academic peer reviews, and international outlook, all of which work in favor of universities like HKU and CUHK, which attract students and faculty from around the world and have strong international collaborations. In contrast, ARWU and Webometrics prioritize research productivity and citation impact, areas where universities from Japan and mainland China tend to excel.

QS Top 10 Asian universities:
1 University of Hong Kong
2 The Chinese University of Hong Kong
3 University of Tokyo Japan
4 Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
5 Kyoto University Japan
6 Osaka University Japan
7 Kaist - Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology
8 Seoul National University Korea, South
9 Tokyo Institute of Technology Japan
10= National University of Singapore (NUS)
10= Peking University China

Source: QS.com Asian University Rankings 2009

ARWU Top Universities in Asia & Pacific:
1 The University of Tokyo
2 Kyoto University
3 The Australian National University
4 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
5 Osaka University
6 University of Melbourne
7 Nagoya University
8 Tohoku University
9 University of Sydney
10-16 National Taiwan University
10-16 National University of Singapore
10-16 Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
10-16 Tel Aviv University
10-16 The University of Queensland
10-16 The University of Western Australia
10-16 Tokyo Institute of Technology

Source: ARWU 2009

Top 10 Universities in Asia (Ranking Web of World Universities):
Regional Rank, Institution, World Rank
1 University of Tokyo 24
2 National Taiwan University 26
3 Kyoto University 49
4 University of Hong Kong 91
5 University of Tsukuba 98
6 National Cheng Kung University 101
7 Peking University 104
8 National Sun Yat-Sen University 124
9 Chinese University of Hong Kong 127
10 National Chiao Tung University 146

Source: Webometrics, July 2009