Taipei, Nov. 3 (CNA) National Taiwan University (NTU) has held onto 19th place for the second consecutive year in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Asia University Rankings released Tuesday.
Taiwan's largest university and home to more than 32,000 students, NTU scored 90.8 out of 100 to rank first among Taiwanese universities on the list, which has been published annually by the London-based Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. since 2009.
The number of the Taiwanese universities in the top 50 remains at five, with NTU joined by National Tsing Hua University (34th), National Cheng Kung University (41st), National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (47th), and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (50th).
Both Tsing Hua and Cheng Kung moved a place up from the rankings released last year, while Yang Ming Chiao Tung, which was formed after a merger between Chiao Tung and Yang-Ming universities in February, dropped from the 46th place Chiao Tung held previously.
Taipei's National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, meanwhile, dropped two places from last year.
National University of Singapore, which has ranked first each year since 2019, again came top with a score of 100.
In second place was China's Peking University, whose score of 99.5 saw it rise from seventh place in last year's rankings.
Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the University of Hong Kong shared third place with a score of 98.7.
The rankings were calculated by the QS Intelligence Unit using a set of criteria developed in consultation with regional experts and stakeholders, according to QS.
The number of institutions covered by the regional rankings increased to 687 from last year's 650, and the number of Taiwanese universities on the list also grew from 43 to 46.
China, not including nine institutions in Hong Kong and two from Macau, had the most universities featured in this year's rankings at 126.
India had the second most with 118, followed by Japan with 108, South Korea at 88, and Pakistan with 47.
QS uses 11 indicators to determine the scores, with around 30 percent of a university's ranking based on its academic reputation, which is assessed by the company through an annual global survey of academics, according to the QS website.
Employer reputation accounted for 20 percent of each score, evaluated through another international survey of graduate employers.
A university's faculty-to-student ratio, international research network, and citations per paper each made up 10 percent of its score, along with 5 percent each for papers per faculty and staff with a doctoral degree.
The proportion of international faculty, international students, inbound exchange students, and outbound exchange students at an institution each accounted for 2.5 percent of its score.
