Vietnamese universities slip on Asian ranking

Vietnam has six universities on this year's ranking and all of them have been on the list of the British organization before.

Ho Chi Minh City’s Ton Duc Thang University topped the list from Vietnam, ranked at 193, falling more than 100 places compared to 2023.

Following it, Duy Tan University in Da Nang City is in the 251-300 group, dropping about 150 ranks.

The group that saw a decline also includes Vietnam National University, Hanoi, and Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City. Last year, they were in the 351-400 and 501-600 groups respectively, but this year they dropped to the 501-600 and 601+ categories.

Hanoi University of Science and Technology and Hue University maintained their positions, respectively in the 501-600 and 601+ groups.

Ho Chi Minh City Open University submitted an application but has not yet been ranked.

The Asia University Rankings 2024 use the same 18 performance indicators, but they were recalibrated to reflect the attributes of Asia’s institutions.

The universities are judged across all their core missions – teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook – to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons available. The 2024 edition of the ranking introduces significant updates to the original methodology.

Duy Tan University and Ton Duc Thang University rank higher than other Vietnamese universities on the list thanks to having more international research and publications.

According to the findings of the Ministry of Education and Training in 2022, the two universities have many policies that motivate and promote scientific research, allocating a significant percentage of their revenue to this activity (10-20%).

In addition to faculty research, both universities also have research cooperation contracts with scientists from within and outside the country. This contributes to an increase in the number of international publications.

This year, Tsinghua University and Peking University in China take the first and second positions for the fifth year in a row. Five Chinese universities feature in the top 10, compared with four last year.

With two universities each, Hong Kong and Singapore have the second-highest representation in the top 10. However, Hong Kong’s leading universities drop in rank while Singapore’s remain stable or gain ground.

The University of Tokyo, which is Japan’s top institution, rises from eighth to fifth, its highest position since 2015.

South Korea’s top institution, Seoul National University, drifts further away from the top 10, dropping three places to 14th. 

In the top 100, China dominates with 33 universities, followed by South Korea with 16.

The 2024 ranking includes 739 universities from 31 territories.

With 119 universities, Japan remains the most-represented nation this year. India follows with 91 institutions.

A total of 98 universities have joined the rankings since last year. This increase is led by India, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan.