Chulalongkorn University (CU) is the only higher education institution in Thailand to have risen in the latest global rankings, though it still lags well behind its regional counterparts.
CU was in the 501-600 group of the World University Rankings this year, moving up from the lower tier of the 601-800 cluster, according to the results from Times Higher Education released on Thursday.
Thailand’s top university, Chulalongkorn University (CU), performed better in the latest global rankings in the areas of teaching, research quality, industry engagement and international outlook. However, it saw a decline in the research environment category, which includes factors such as research budgets and the number of publications.
Mahidol University maintained its position as Thailand’s sole representative in the 601-800 group, while King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi retained its place in the 801-1,000 tier.
The rankings highlighted that Thai universities continue to trail behind their counterparts in Singapore and Malaysia, facing growing competition from Vietnam.
The National University of Singapore remained Southeast Asia’s top institution and 17th globally. In Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Perak and the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur led the way, both ranked in the 201-250 band.
Vietnam’s University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City was placed in the same 501-600 tier as CU, with three other Vietnamese universities also listed among the world’s top 1,000 -one more than Thailand.
Globally, the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom retained the top spot for the tenth consecutive year, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States. ‘Oxford retains the number one spot for the tenth consecutive year, driven by strong research environment scores,’ Times Higher Education said.
Tsinghua University in China was Asia’s highest-ranked institution at 12th place, though the report noted that its position has stagnated for three years.
‘The performance of Asia’s top universities has stalled for the first time in 14 years in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, while the US continues to decline even before the effects of the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education show up in the data,’ the publication said.
This year’s rankings assessed 2,191 universities across 115 countries and territories.