2026.09.30

 

National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in Taiwan has climbed to the 351–375 band in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2027, released on September 30, achieving its strongest result in five years and placing third in Taiwan.

 

The university improved in all five pillars assessed by THE, with a near-perfect score in Industry and continued gains in research productivity and high-impact research.

 

Kuo-Liang Ou (區國良), director of the Center for Institutional Research at NTHU, said THE's rankings are among the most influential in the world, measuring universities across five pillars: Teaching, Research Environment, Research Quality, Industry and International Outlook.

 

Beyond moving up the global table, Ou noted, NTHU has recorded sustained growth across a range of research and university-industry collaboration indicators. Its Industry score remained near perfect, while International Outlook posted the largest gain of the five pillars. The overall data, he said, reflect the progress NTHU has made in recent years in research output and quality, university-industry collaboration and international engagement.

 

Over the past several years, NTHU has seen steady growth in both research output and high-impact research. Its Research Productivity score rose from 81.5 in 2024 to 99 in 2027, approaching a perfect score. The value of the Research Excellence indicator, which measures the number of research publications ranked among the top 10% worldwide by field-weighted citation impact (FWCI), increased by 31.6% over the past four years. The Research Influence score has also continued to rise.

 

In university-industry collaboration, NTHU scored 99.9 in the Industry pillar, including a perfect 100 for Industry Income and 99.8 for Patents. Over the past four years, industry income per academic staff member has risen by more than 40%, and the number of patents citing NTHU research has grown by more than 170%. The growth points to a deepening connection between the university's research and industrial applications.

 

International Outlook showed the largest improvement of NTHU's five pillars this year. International students now make up more than 20% of the student body and international staff 8.3%, while more than 40% of the university's publications continue to involve international co-authors. Together, these figures reflect an increasingly international campus and expanding cross-border research collaboration.

 

Vice President for Research and Development Yung-Hsien Wu (巫勇賢) said that sustained research excellence requires long-term investment in talent, infrastructure and institutional support. In addition, he noted that international collaboration is also essential to enhancing research impact. In recent years, NTHU has strengthened the recruitment and development of research talent through initiatives such as the Tsing Hua Talent Development Fund and the Research Talent Resource Center. The university has also strengthened interdisciplinary research through its 10 Flagship Research Areas. Building on NTHU's strong foundation in university-industry collaboration, the University Science Park (USP), powered by NTHU, further connects deep-tech commercialization, startups and industry resources, helping translate research achievements into broader real-world applications.

 

About the Rankings

 

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2027 cover 2,297 universities in 118 countries and territories. Institutions are assessed on 17 performance indicators across five pillars: Teaching, Research Environment, Research Quality, Industry and International Outlook.