Only 1 Thai varsity in top 400

CHULARAT SAENGPASSA,

WANNAPA KHAOPA

THE NATION

King Mongkut University ranked in 351-400 band on debut in Times Higher Education rankings

BANGKOK: -- King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi is the only Thai educational institution to figure among the top 400 universities, according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2012-13.

Leading universities from across Asia have made significant improvements in their rankings. Universities from China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan have gained ground, the traditional powerhouses the US and UK have seen serious declines. China's massive investment in developing world-class higher education is paying off, according to Times Higher Education (THE).

The California Institute of Technology holds on to its top spot, while Harvard was pushed into fourth place by Oxford and Stanford, which share second place.

"This is the first year that KMUTT has participated in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. It has made it into the top-400 list as it has achieved very good scores in the indicator Citation Impact," Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education World University Rankings, told The Nation yesterday. KMUTT is in the 351-400 ranking band.

"KMUTT has the most research papers per head in Thailand. I'm glad KMUTT is featured in the world rankings after our lecturers conducted lots of quality research projects. We will continue promoting more research projects," said Assoc Professor Sakarindr Bhumiratana, president of KMUTT.

"Our international rankings are getting better. KMUTT was ranked 352 in the QS World University Rankings 2012 in engineering and IT and in the 161-170 band in the QS Asian University Rankings. We were ranked 1,293 in the Scimago Institutions Rankings 2012," he said.

Last year, Mahidol University was ranked in the 351-400 band.

"The Times Higher Education World University Rankings works on a voluntary basis, following an invitation submitted to the individual institutions by the Times Higher Education's data provider, Thomson Reuters.

"We are delighted that six Thai institutions took part this year. This is an important global exercise and we would like to encourage more institutions to work with us so that an even clearer picture of higher education in Thailand can be formed, allowing Thailand to create a better benchmark for itself against the world's very best," Baty said.

Mahidol and Chulalongkorn have been taking part in the THE World University Rankings since 2010. KMUTT, Chiang Mai, Kasetsart and Thammasat all participated for the first time this year, he said.

The five main groups of indicators are, teaching - the learning environment (worth 30 per cent of the overall score), research - volume, income and reputation (30 per cent), citations - research influence (30 per cent), international outlook - staff, students and research (7.5 per cent) and industry income - innovation (2.5 per cent).

The annual THE rankings were published online last night at www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/

-- The Nation 2012-10-04

>>The 2012-13 World University Rankings, released Wednesday by the Times Higher Education magazine in London.

7 out of top 10 from the US, while the other 3 from the UK. Nice work from these two countries.

Here's a link that is a bit easier to understand than the above graphic http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/10/caltech-tops-list-of-world-universities.html

Are we allowed to link to the full list...?

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2012-13/world-ranking

Sort of glad my old Uni is doing well - up to 32...

^ & mine is #2!

Mine didn't even make it into the top 400.

"Yesterdays Technology Today" that tells you everything about my time there.

That many?

Personally I think the IgNobels much more interesting.

PSYCHOLOGY PRIZE: Anita Eerland and Rolf Zwaan [THE NETHERLANDS] and Tulio Guadalupe [PERU, RUSSIA, and THE NETHERLANDS] for their study "Leaning to the Left Makes the Eiffel Tower Seem Smaller"

REFERENCE: "Leaning to the Left Makes the Eiffel Tower Seem Smaller: Posture-Modulated Estimation," Anita Eerland, Tulio M. Guadalupe and Rolf A. Zwaan, Psychological Science, vol. 22 no. 12, December 2011, pp. 1511-14.

http://www.improbabl...winners/#ig2012

NOTE: a possible new study might be how the colour of one's shirt effects crowd number guestimations

Well, i went to one of the top 10, and i still don't know the meaning of life or of anything else much

Poor old LoS - don't feel like criticising or gloating or deriding - just so many negatives in the culture

that militate against serious study for its own sake as opposed to status, vanity, or financial reward.

If they don't pull the old finger out soon they could even slip down that list rather than climb it, given

the competitiveness and manic energy other developing countries are demonstrating all around.

Education is not about filling a pail, but lighting a fire. - Said by someone much smarter than I.

Find a good teacher in the area you are interested in knowing about, and learn for a while.