Asia University Rankings 2018: how did Tsinghua University claim Chinese crown?

Browse the full list of institutions in this year’s rankings

Although Peking University still ranks above Tsinghua University in the latest Times Higher ­Education World University Rankings, Tsinghua now leads in the Asia rankings because of the difference in metric weightings between the two tables.

Research productivity, research income and industry income have more weight in the Asia rankings, while teaching and research reputation both count for less. This reflects the fact that Asian universities tend to be younger than their Western counterparts and, therefore, are typically less well known and less well regarded across the world.

The graphs here show that while Peking receives much higher levels of income than Tsinghua, Tsinghua outperforms its Beijing neighbour on publication output. It has also increased its research income at a faster rate than Peking. As a result, Tsinghua receives a higher score for its research environment.

Tsinghua has also seen a greater improvement in its citation impact and international co-authorship this year, compared with Peking, which is another reason for its rise.

ellie.bothwell@timeshighereducation.com

Download a copy of the Asia University Rankings 2018 digital supplement

Watch our video of the 2018 results