Japanese universities climb rankings in Times global survey
London, The Gulf Observer: Several Japanese universities shot up in the latest annual ranking published by British magazine Times Higher Education, with the University of Tokyo rising to 29th, the highest position for a Japanese institution since 2015.
In its World University Rankings 2024, the University of Tokyo climbed from 39th place in the previous ranking while Kyoto University jumped from 68th to 55th place.
The magazine said the notable rise in the rankings of Japanese institutions was due to a newly added metric on patents.
Tohoku University, Osaka University and the Tokyo Institute of Technology were also among the institutions rated more highly due to the new indicator that rewards contributions to patents.
The magazine looked at 1,904 institutions in 108 countries and regions, evaluating their performance across five areas including research, international outlook and knowledge transfer.
The top 10 was dominated by British and American institutions, with Britain’s University of Oxford ranked first and Stanford University in the United States second.
China’s Tsinghua University and Peking University came in 12th and 14th place respectively.
According to a Times official, links between universities and industry are strong in Japan, making it easier to put university research into practice.
However, Japanese universities tended to rate poorly on indicators relating to international outlook and overall research output, with the magazine noting that Japan “faces some real challenges to its international competitiveness.”
