Times Higher Education (THE) first ranked universities worldwide in 2004 and is one of the leading organizations in the field, as well as Quacquarelli Symonds in the UK, and the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy in China.
On September 29, THE announced the results of the 2024 THE World University Rankings (THE WUR 2024), measuring 1,904 universities in 108 countries and regions. For the first time, Vietnam had seven universities in the rankings, with the HCMC Open University included with "Reporter" status.
In 2020, three Vietnamese universities appeared in the THE rankings for the first time, including the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, VNU Hanoi and VNU HCMC, all in the 801-1,000 group. Three more were then added, with DTU and Ton Duc Thang University highest, in the 401-500 group in 2022 and 2023.
In 2024, both DTU and Ton Duc Thang University were ranked in the 601-800 group, dropping from 401-500 and VNU-Hanoi fell from 1,000-1,200 to 1,201-1,500. VNU-HCMC, with the Hanoi University of Science and Technology and Hue University remaining in the 1,501+ group.
The six Vietnamese universities in the 2024 THE World University Rankings
VNU Hanoi led in terms of Teaching, with 20.9 points. Ton Duc Thang University and DTU achieved scores of 90.6 and 87.5 points respectively in research quality, while the Hanoi University of Science and Technology scored 46.8 points and Hue University 16.4ts.
Meanwhile, the HCMC Open University was listed for the first time with “Reporter” status. This meant that it provided data but did not meet THE’s ranking eligibility criteria to receive a normal ranking, despite its reputation as one of the leading multi-disciplinary public universities in Vietnam, with application-oriented, knowledge and community cohesion.
HCMC Open University students
In April, THE released the 2023 Impact Rankings, the only global performance table that assesses universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Vietnam had nine universities listed, including the University of Economics in HCMC in the 301- 400 group; DTU and the Vietnam National University, in Hanoi at 401-600; FPT University, Ton Duc Thang University, the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, and the National Economics University at 601-800; Phenikaa University at 801-1,000 and the HCMC Open University at 1,001+.
Changes in methodology
The new performance table is based on THE’s new WUR 3.0 methodology, which includes 18 calibrated indicators measuring an institution’s strengths in five areas, teaching; Research Environment; Research Quality; Industry; and International Outlook. This year marks the second time that the methodology has been significantly updated, the last substantial alteration was in the 2011 edition.
In the 2024 THE World University Rankings, three of the pillars have been renamed, with Research becoming Research Environment, Industry Income becoming Industry, and Citations becoming Research Quality. According to THE, these changes were necessary as the rankings reflect the output of a diverse range of research-intensive universities worldwide, now and in the future. Higher education has become more international and less focused on the wealthier nations, which still account for most of the top universities, however. The US is now less dominant and Asia now increasingly more so.
THE’s new WUR 3.0 methodology
In addition to the Industry pillar, a new Patents metric will measure how many times a university’s research is cited in patents. Both these metrics are worth 2% of the ranking, bringing the overall weighting for this pillar up from 2.5% to 4% of THE ranking. THE have slightly reduced the Teaching and Research Environment pillars from 30% to 29.5% and 29% of the ranking, respectively.
Duncan Ross, chief data officer at THE said: “As expected, changing the methodology influences the overall rankings. We have stress-tested the changes and believe that the results are now more reliable. We have resolved some of the issues that were correctly criticized in the past, especially concerning some abnormal citation results.”
In this year’s rankings, the US and the UK are most represented in the Top 10. The University of Oxford tops the ranking for the eighth year in a row, and others in the top five have switched places. Stanford University moved up to second place, pushing Harvard University down to fourth. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology climbed two places to third and the University of Cambridge slipped to fifth place, from joint third place last year. For the first time, China now appears twice in the top 15, with Tsinghua University at 12 and Peking University at 14.
(Media Center)