ARWU rankings somewhat kinder to Japan

The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), out of Shanghai, China, has its merits: it comes out in August, and when differences across universities are not statistically significant, it places them in a tie rather than letting the chips arbitrarily fall where they may.

This year's list is somewhat kinder to Japanese universities, which clearly still dominate their designated region, the Asia-Pacific.

Full information is at the links below. The quoted material after the links highlights how Japanese institutions did in the top 200. Nine make the list. To summarize, Todai/U. of Tokyo is number 20 worldwide and top in Japan and Asia. Japan's number 2, Kyodai/Kyoto U., is still in the top 30 at a respectable 24.

Despite all the government money now going to Waseda and Keio, no private university is in the top 200 (the main weakness: science and technology). This is really a list of elite national universities (now 'national university corporations' or 'NUCs') in Japan. However, it is important to note that most NUCs are not elite, and it's interesting that the top universities in Taiwan and S. Korea were also national universities (of Japan--national imperial universities!).   

http://www.arwu.org/index.jsp

http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2010_2.jsp



in top 100
---------------------

20 The University of Tokyo Asia/Pacific 1

24 Kyoto University Asia/Pacific 2

75 Osaka University Asia/Pacific 6

79 Nagoya University Asia/Pacific 7

84 Tohoku University Asia/Pacific 8

in top 200

--------------------

101-150 Tokyo Institute of Technology Asia/Pacific 10-18

151-200 Hokkaido University Asia/Pacific 19-26

151-200 Kyushu University Asia/Pacific 19-26

151-200 University of Tsukuba Asia/Pacific 19-26
   
  

Japanese universities do even worse with THES world rankings

In the new THES global rankings, Japan higher education only manages to place 5 universities in the top 200. No institution in Japan makes the top 10 or 20. Only one university makes the top 30--that is Toudai/University of Tokyo. No private universities placed. Kyoudai/Kyoto University's rank of 57 seems out of place because we are used to seeing Kyoudai as a top 30 institution in the old THES-QS tables. These results are even more disappointing than the QS results summarized and posted here last week. Also, China has placed SIX institutions in the top 200--a result that will be interpreted as China overtaking Japan in still yet another area. On the other hand, the top university in China, Beijing University, has yet to crack the top 30.

See the full list of 200 and total score at the link below. The excerpt after that shows only the Japanese universities that made it into the top 200.


http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/top-200.html



26    University of Tokyo  

57    Kyoto University  

112    Tokyo Institute of Technology  

130    Osaka University

132    Tohoku University  

Japan slips elite private university into Times-QS top 200 global rankings

In the first post on this year's rankings, I wrote:
 
Perhaps one aspect worth a closer look is how Japan's elite private universities fared. None are in the top 100, but are any rising or entering the top 200? That is worth a future post here at the Japan HEO Blog.

THES''s own article on the topic answers the question. Keio University makes its debut in the top 200--and even makes it into the top 150.


excerpt:
Japan counts 11 institutions in the top 200, among them two new entrants: the University of Tsukuba sharing 174th place and Keio University making an impressive debut at 142nd. Japan's representatives in the top 100 rose in number from four to six, led by the University of Tokyo at 22nd place (down from 19th).

See the entire article on THES online:

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=408560

Japan does slightly better in this Webometrics rankings

sources:
http://www.webometrics.info/index.html
http://www.webometrics.info/top6000.asp


Japan places 3 universities (all former national universities) in the top 100. For a ranking of 6000 institutions worldwide and explanations, see links above.


WORLD RANK UNIVERSITY COUNTRY SIZE VISIBILITY RICH FILES SCHOLAR


24 University of Tokyo Japan 32 26 65 31

49 Kyoto University Japan 56 52 157 34

98 University of Tsukuba Japan 86 239 248 12

ARWU World Rankings not much better for Japan's universities

To sum up the ARWU results in terms of Japanese universities:

1. One institution makes the top 20--Tokyo University. However, Todai fell from 19 in 2008 to 20 this year.
2. Kyoto University is in the top 30 at 24, but slipped from 23 in 2008.
3. Osaka, Nagoya and Tohoku are all in the top 100, at 71, 82, and 84, respectively. Tokyo Institute of Technology, unlike the QS table, IS NOT in the top 100.
4. Todai and Kyodai are still considered the top two universities for the Asia/Pacific region, unlike the findings of the QS results, which puts Australian National University at 17, very much higher than the ARWU's rank of 59.

The ARWU top 20 is:

http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2009.jsp

(Source: Academic Ranking of World Universities - 2009)

World Rank Institution Region Regional Rank Country National Rank Score on Alumni Score on Award Score on HiCi Score on N&S Score on PUB Score on PCP Total Score

1
Harvard University
Americas 1 1 100 100 100 100 100 74.8 100
2
Stanford University
Americas 2 2 39 78.7 87.1 67.3 70.1 66.9 73.1
3
University of California, Berkeley
Americas 3 3 67.4 77.1 68.4 71.1 69 53.2 71.0
4
University of Cambridge
Europe 1 1 89.4 91.5 53.8 53.9 65.4 65.5 70.2
5
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Americas 4 4 71 80.6 65.7 67.9 62 54.4 69.5
6
California Institute of Technology
Americas 5 5 51.5 69.1 57.1 66.2 47.7 100 64.8
7
Columbia University
Americas 6 6 70.6 67.7 55.7 49.1 69.6 46.5 61.7
8
Princeton University
Americas 7 7 57.8 85.2 61.6 41.5 45.7 61.4 60.2
9
University of Chicago
Americas 8 8 65.8 84.3 49.7 38.6 51.6 41.8 57.0
10
University of Oxford
Europe 2 2 57.6 57.9 48.9 49.8 66.1 45.7 56.3
11
Yale University
Americas 9 9 49.8 43.6 57.6 55.7 62.7 49.5 55.2
12
Cornell University
Americas 10 10 40.5 51.3 54.3 51.7 61.2 39.9 53.1
13
University of California, Los Angeles
Americas 11 11 23.8 42.8 57.4 50.3 74.5 36.2 52.3
14
University of California, San Diego
Americas 12 12 15.5 35.9 60.3 53.9 65.2 48 50.7
15
University of Pennsylvania
Americas 13 13 30.9 34.4 57.6 44.1 69 39.8 49.3
16
University of Washington
Americas 14 14 25 31.8 53.3 48.8 73.7 28.1 48.0
17
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Americas 15 15 37.5 35.5 52.3 39.8 66.7 28.6 46.7
18
University of California, San Francisco
Americas 16 16 0 36.8 53.8 49.7 59.9 46.7 45.9
19
The Johns Hopkins University
Americas 17 17 44.7 27.8 41.7 49.1 67.1 24.9 45.2
20
The University of Tokyo
Asia/Pacific 1 1 34.1 14.1 42.9 49 79.7 34.1 45.1

remainder of Japan's top 100 entries follows:
-------------------
24
Kyoto University
Asia/Pacific 2 2 34.6 34.9 38.4 34.6 67.3 31 42.7

71
Osaka University
Asia/Pacific 5 3 10.9 0 26.2 27.8 62 28.3 27.8

82
Nagoya University
Asia/Pacific 7 4 25 14.1 16.2 22.6 48.1 25.9 26.0

84
Tohoku University
Asia/Pacific 8 5 16.4 0 21.8 22.3 59.7 27.5 25.8

Japan slips in QS-Times HE world rankings, no top 20 institutions

It's that time of year again--various university league tables and world rankings have been released. This requires analysis from the Japan HEO Blog from a Japan perspective.

From a Japan perspective, the news is MIXED. First, NO Japanese institution gets into this year's QS-Times HE top 20. On the other hand, there are more Japanese universities in the top 100.

At one point in the short history of these rankings, it looked like Japan's most well known university, Tokyo University (Todai), was going to make a run at the top 10, making it the true 'Harvard of the East'.

However, Todai has slipped out of the top 20 now. This could be explained by QS-Times HE changing their criteria some, with the changes penalizing non-Anglophone Todai and Japan. It might also, at least in part, be attributed to Todai's decreased ability to sponsor exchange with scholars and researchers overseas. And this decline could then be linked to overall less funding where it counts from the national government, now that the national universities (at the top of which heap Todai is always placed) are now administratively independent in the status of 'national university corporations' (NUCs)--at least somewhat, at least in theory, anyway. On the other hand, the fact that two other national universities have surged into the top 100 might indicate that the government is doing a better job in getting the NUCs to share the funding--perhaps. Perhaps one aspect worth a closer look is how Japan's elite private universities fared. None are in the top 100, but are any rising or entering the top 200? That is worth a future post here at the Japan HEO Blog.

Here are the results that are relevant to the discussion here. See the links for FULL information and all sorts of various rankings, analysis and the criteria. I have added, in the case of the Japanese institutions, last year's rank for comparison purposes.

http://www.topuniversities.com/
http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2009/results



The top 20 (in which there is no Japanese university):

2009 rank School Name Country
Source: QS Quacquarelli Symonds (www.topuniversities.com)

1 HARVARD University United States
2 University of CAMBRIDGE United Kingdom
3 YALE University United States
4 UCL (University College London) United Kingdom
5= IMPERIAL College London United Kingdom
5= University of OXFORD United Kingdom
7 University of CHICAGO United States
8 PRINCETON University United States
9 Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States
10 California Institute of Technology United States
11 COLUMBIA University United States
12 University of PENNSYLVANIA United States
13 JOHNS HOPKINS University United States
14 DUKE University United States
15 CORNELL University United States
16 STANFORD University United States
17 AUSTRALIAN National University Australia
18 Mcgill University Canada
19 University of MICHIGAN United States
20= ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of T... Switzerland
20= University of EDINBURGH United Kingdom


22 University of TOKYO Japan (was 19 in 2008)

25 KYOTO University Japan (no change)

43= OSAKA University Japan (was 44 in 2008)
43= TRINITY College Dublin Ireland

55= TOKYO Institute of Technology Japan (was 61 in 2008)

92= NAGOYA University Japan (not in top 100 last year)

97 TOHOKU University Japan (not in top 100 last year)