The Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has held on to the top spot for the second year, having also risen to 13^th in the QS World University Rankings, a jump of 26 places.

The table, which ranks all universities under 50 years old, also places universities in Asia in six of the top 10 spots, with Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology completing the top three.

“There is a high concentration of technology oriented young institutions in Asia”

City University of Hong Kong rose one place from last year to fourth, with the fifth position being Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea.

Ben Sowter, head of division at the QS Intelligence Unit, attributed the strength of technological institutions to the success of Asian universities in these rankings.

“There is a high concentration of technology oriented young institutions in Asia,” he told The PIE News.

“Many Asian institutions are highly agile, focused on international collaboration and partnership and increasingly international.” He added that there is a “clear strengthening of performance for technology institutions in this context”.

“The same institutions which have moved up in the main ranking move up here,” he said.

“Technology oriented institutions have done well as a result of recent adjustments to the main methodology, and in many cases are also younger.”

This league table is filtered from the QS World University Rankings, which has seen a change in methodology from last year.

One of the most significant changes was the reduction in bias towards strong medical research.

Australia’s young institutions have benefited from this change, according to Sowter, as eight of the country’s universities make the top 50.

The University of Technology Sydney ranked the highest at 14^th in this table, but came in 218^th position in the World University Rankings.

Furthermore, 24 of the top 50 universities are Europe-based, compared to Asia’s 13, with the University of Bath in the UK coming in 7^th, Maastricht University in the Netherlands ranking 8^th and Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, both in Spain, positioning 9^th and 10^th respectively.

For the first time this year, the rankings have also incorporated 100 universities, instead of the usual 50, naming the second half of the list “The Next 50 Under 50”.

“As the overall rankings have expanded, the opportunity to showcase an additional group of interesting up and coming universities has presented itself,” said Sowter.

However, he added that as universities tip over the 50 year threshold, “the relevance of publishing 100 institutions may diminish, which is why we are referring to the extended group as “The Next 50 Under 50” rather than simply extending the main list to 100.”

QS Top 50 Under 50 rankings – top 10

• Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• KAIST – Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
• City University of Hong Kong
• Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH)
• The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• University of Bath
• Maastricht University
• Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
• Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona