Asia-Pacific universities make progress on computer science

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THE World University Rankings 2020 by subject: computer science

THE World University Rankings 2020 by subject: engineering and technology

Universities across the Asia-Pacific region have made great strides in teaching and research on computer science, according to the latest Times Higher Education subject ranking.

Four institutions in the region feature in the top 20 of the 2020 THE computer science ranking, up from two last year.

While two Chinese universities top the region in the overall THE World University Rankings, in this subject-specific list Asia-Pacific is led by institutions in Singapore.

The National University of Singapore is number one in the region and 11th overall, up from 15th last year, owing to boosts in its scores for citation impact and teaching and research reputation. Meanwhile, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore rises 16 places to 13th after having improved its scores in the two reputation metrics and the industry income measure.

Elsewhere in the region, China’s Tsinghua University is ranked 15th, up from joint 20th, and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is 17th, up from 28th.

Meanwhile, Australia almost doubles its representation in the top 100, claiming seven places in this cohort, up from four last year. UNSW Sydney, Queensland University of Technology, and the universities of Sydney and Adelaide all join the group, in most cases after improving their scores for reputation and citation impact.

India has also made progress in this ranking, with the Indian Institute of Science rising into the 126-150 band (up from 176-200) and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur climbing into the 151-175 group.

Data from Elsevier’s Scopus database show that China published more papers on artificial intelligence between 1998 and 2017 than any other nation, while India published more research in this area than the UK.

However, the computer science ranking is still led by institutions in the UK, the US and Switzerland, with the University of Oxford holding on to the number one spot.

The THE subject ranking for engineering and technology has also been updated for 2020. It is now topped by the California Institute of Technology and Stanford University in joint first place.

The two subject rankings are based on the same metrics as the overall THE World University Rankings, but in both cases the weightings are different from the overall table to place more emphasis on industry income and less on citation impact.

ellie.bothwell@timeshighereducation.com