Leading universities in South Korea and China have improved at a faster rate over the past three years than top institutions in other major Asia-Pacific countries, according to Times Higher Education’s latest Asia-Pacific University Rankings. South Korea is the most-improved nation since 2017, with its average overall score increasing by 15 percent during that time. China is second, with a 14 percent rise in its average overall score.

The research was restricted to universities in the Top 100 of the table because lower-ranked institutions receive a banded score. When counting only universities that feature in the Top 100 in all three years the two countries switch places, with South Korea’s improvement rate dropping to 7 percent and China’s remaining at 14 percent. However, in both cases the results show that the two innovation-driven economies are overtaking countries that have historically led higher education in the region.

South Korea outperforms Australia when it comes to its average overall score in the 2019 edition of the ranking, while China is now above Japan on this measure. Hong Kong still has the highest average overall score of 65.2. All six of its universities feature in the Top 100. South Korea and China also saw the greatest increase in research and development spending as a proportion of gross domestic product between 2011-2016, with rises of 13 percent and 19 percent respectively, while Japan and Australia both experienced drops in research and development investment.

Youngmi Kim, senior lecturer in Korean studies at the University of Edinburgh, cites growing state and industry support for research and development as one of the reasons why some South Korean institutions have risen in the rankings. She adds that South Korean universities have also “greatly promoted internationalisation, both in terms of providing scholarships for incoming international students and support for outgoing faculty”.

(Excerpted and adapted from The Economist and Times Higher Education)