The 2026 Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings were officially released on the 23rd, featuring a record high of 929 universities from 36 countries and regions. Among the top ten universities in Asia, mainland China occupies half of the spots, with Tsinghua University and Peking University claiming the top two positions; Hong Kong universities also performed remarkably, with the University of Hong Kong and The Chinese University of Hong Kong securing places in the top ten.
Mainland Chinese universities performed strongly in this ranking. Tsinghua University has maintained its position as Asia's number one university for eight consecutive years, and Peking University remains in second place. In addition, a total of five mainland universities entered the Asian top ten, with Fudan University and Zhejiang University holding the 7th and 8th spots respectively; Shanghai Jiao Tong University moved up one place, ranking 9th in Asia.
This year, a total of eight universities from Hong Kong made the list, two more than last year.
Meanwhile, Macau has three universities ranked this year, a historic high. Among them, the University of Macau rose to 28th place, marking the first time a Macau university has entered Asia's top 30. The highest-ranked university in Taiwan is National Taiwan University, placed 26th.
According to public information, the Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings have been published by the UK-based Times Higher Education (THE) since 2013. This ranking uses the same performance indicators as the World University Rankings, but with weights adjusted to reflect the characteristics of Asian universities. Since 2024, the ranking has adopted 18 performance indicators, covering five areas: teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook, and industry income.
Top 10 in the Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings:
Institution Region 2026 Ranking 2025 Ranking
Institution Region 2026 Ranking 2025 Ranking
- Tsinghua University Mainland China 1 1
- Peking University Mainland China 2 2
- National University of Singapore Singapore 3 3
- Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Singapore 4 4
- The University of Tokyo Japan 4 5
- The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong 6 6
- Fudan University Mainland China 7 7
- Zhejiang University Mainland China 8 8
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University Mainland China 9 10
- The Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong 10 9