| |
It’s top in Asia, No. 18 in world, in global ranking exercise
THE National University of Singapore (NUS) has received a booster shot, being named the 18th-best university in the world – and the top in Asia – for medicine. It also scored highly in biological sciences and psychology in a ranking exercise of global universities by London-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The latest exercise from QS – more well known for its annual ranking of worldwide universities – focuses on a narrower spread of disciplines. In the results released this morning, NUS was also rated 28th in the world in biological sciences and 22nd in psychology. Nanyang Technological University (NTU) was in the 151st-200th band for biological sciences and 51st-100th band for psychology. NTU was unranked in medicine as it currently does not have a medical school. It will open one in 2013.
Earlier last month, QS, an education and career consultancy, released rankings for engineering disciplines and computer science. NUS was rated seventh, and NTU 18th, in the world for civil engineering. In the latest exercise, QS took into account the view of academics and employers. About 15,000 academics worldwide were asked to name institutions that excel in research areas they were familiar with. About 5,000 employers were polled on which universities they preferred to recruit from.
Harvard University was named No. 1 in medicine, psychology and biological sciences. Familiar names like the University of Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University also did well. The University of Tokyo was rated 20th in medicine, 18th in psychology and 15th in biological sciences. QS intelligence unit head Ben Sowter said NUS and other universities in Hong Kong and Singapore have an advantage over other schools in the world as their use of English makes them attractive to the best global students and faculty.
He pointed out that NUS ranked higher in medicine than the University of Tokyo because NUS graduates were rated more favourably by the employers surveyed. Dean of the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Professor John Wong, said: “We are privileged to be recognised for the impact that our great faculty and students have made, and continue to make, in our common vision of doing our very best, be it in patient care, education or research.” Mr Chan Kwong Lok, chief planning officer of NTU, said the university is encouraged by the rankings. He added that psychology and biological sciences are relatively new disciplines which have been introduced in the university in the past 10 years.
|