NUS, NTU jump two places higher in 2014 QS World University Rankings

This year is Singapore’s best performance ever.

The country’s leading universities enjoyed a stellar performance in this year’s QS World University rankings. Both the National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University jumped two places higher this year, marking the country’s best-ever performance since the rankings began a decade ago.

NUS clinched the 22nd spot and remains the Top Asian university in the rankings.

According to QS head of research Ben Sowter“The relentless progress of NUS in our rankings signals a resolute long- term strategy, sustainable financial planning, investment in world class facilities and leveraging Singapore's increasing desirability as a place to be. NUS has further enhanced its research profile, strengthened its faculty student ratio and resonated more strongly with employers this year.”

Nanyang Technological University (39th) has also moved up two places and is achieving impressive recognition by peers’ academics and by international recruiters.

“NTU is one of the fastest climbing institutions in the world over the last five years. The higher they climb, the tougher the competition, yet further progress they seem to make. Strong progress in the citations per faculty indicator has driven NTU into the Top 40 for the first time - and their new medical school has only just got going. Watch this space,” Sowter added.

The rankings are, for the third year, led by MIT which increased year-on-year citations per faculty by 14%. Imperial College also reported a 14% increase in this metric compared to 11% by Cambridge and 2% by Harvard. The average increase in this dimension amongst the top 10 was 7%. Caltech remains the world’s top university for research citations.

All the top ten institutions achieve excellence in academic reputation, employer reputation, student faculty ratio or measures of international faculty and students. The performance of Imperial College in citations per faculty has helped it become the biggest climber in the top 10, leapfrogging Harvard, UCL and Oxford to rank second equal in the world, tied with University of Cambridge.