Eight Thai universities make world rankings

Released today, the QS World University Rankings 2016/2017 place CU at 252, up one place from a year earlier. Mahidol University was the second best-performing Thai institution, climbing to the 283rd spot from 295 last year.

Chiang Mai University comes next, remaining in the range of 551-600. Thammasat University ranks in the 601-650 range like last year. Kasetsart University, however, has slipped from the 651-700 range to the 701+1 band, now sharing the same level as Khon Kaen University, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi and Prince of Songkla University.

First published in 2004, the QS World University Rankings this year highlights 916 of the world’s top universities, based on six key performance indicators including reputation and citations. While the academic reputation of Thai universities has improved, the number of research citations has fallen.

More than 3,800 institutions around the world were reviewed in compiling the list, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology retaining the top spot, followed by two other American universities.

 Stanford University moved into second spot, replacing Harvard University, which slipped into the third place. 

England’s Cambridge University took fourth place, with the California Institute of Technology in fifth.

The best Southeast Asian performer was the National University of Singapore, which now sits in 12th place, with another Singaporean institution, Nanyang Technological University, one place behind.