Thai university rankings slide, Singapore first in ASEAN

The latest Times Higher Education report has seen Thailand’s universities slide in rankings with Singapore coming out on top in Southeast Asia. According to the Bangkok Post, Thailand’s rankings were lower than those of tertiary institutions in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Brunei. The report listed the kingdom’s four best universities in the 801-1,000 band:

• Chulalongkorn University
• King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi
• Mae Fah Luang University
• Mahidol University

However, those universities saw their positions dropping from last year when Mae Fah Luang and MU were ranked in a higher group of 601-800. For this year, Chiang Mai was the only university in the 1,001-1,200 group while five others were grouped in the 1,201-1,500 cluster. Those five were:

• Khon Kaen University
• King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok
• Prince of Songkla University
• Suranaree University of Technology
• Thammasat University

Singapore has continued to prove its university rankings as two of its universities led members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The National University of Singapore also ranks in the world’s top 20 at 19th place. Nanyang Technological University jumped 10 spots from last year to 36. Phil Baty, chief knowledge officer of Times Higher Education, noted that Singapore is a growing world powerhouse for excellence in higher education. He went on to say that the city-state is a beacon for the ASEAN nations.

“However, other ASEAN nations are really falling behind the global competition, giving cause for concern.”

As the Universiti Brunei Darussalam in Brunei was the only higher education institution in Southeast Asia that ranked in the 301-350 grouping, Baty’s comments rang true.

The best universities in the Philippines and Malaysia were Ateneo de Manila University and the University of Malaya respectively. Each ranked in the 351-4000 band. Duy Tan University in Danang was ranked the best in Vietnam in the 401-500 cluster. Indonesia was the only country that ranked lower than Thailand, with the University of Indonesia ranking in the 1,001-1,200 cluster.