Students study at Hà Nội National University’s library. — Photo courtesy of the university

HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội National University was the only higher education institution in Việt Nam to be ranked among the top 1,000 universities in the world, according to Times Higher Education.

Times Higher Education (THE) of the UK on Wednesday announced the World University Rankings (WUR 2021) of the 1,527 top universities.

Hà Nội National University came in the top 801-1,000, whereas the HCM City National University and the Hà Nội University of Technology were ranked in the 1,000+ group.

THE evaluates universities globally based on research on a university's core missions against standard sets of metrics that provide comprehensive and fair comparisons. Therefore, THE is trusted by students, scholars, institutions of higher education, governments as well as academics.

The 2021 ranking has five criteria, with three accounting for 30 per cent each including teaching (mainly about the learning environment), research (volume, income and reputation) and scientific citations (influence of research). The other two criteria are international outlook (of staff, students and research) with 7.5 per cent and industry income (transfer of knowledge) accounting for 2.5 per cent.

Hà Nội National University's scores climbed from 2020. In particular, the index for research increased by 8.8 per cent, and the citations index increased by eight per cent. In addition, the teaching index increased by 2.3 per cent, whereas industry income increased by 1.6 per cent. The university's total score increased from 24.86 to 26.24, up 5.5 per cent.

According to WUR 2021, the top five universities in the world were Oxford University of the UK, and US universities Stanford , Harvard, the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In Asia, the top schools included Tsinghua University and Beijing University in China and the National University of Singapore.

In Southeast Asia, Thailand had 17 schools in the top 1001+, Malaysia had 15, Indonesia had nine schools, Singapore had two and Brunei had one.

Schools in the region in the same bracket as Hà Nội National University (group 801-1000) included King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, which ranked 2nd in Thailand, and the Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), which ranked 4th in Malaysia. — VNS