Higher Education in Asia: The Changing World Rankings of Asian Higher Education Institutions (2015-2025)

Abstract

This research aims to comparatively examine the changing appearance of world rankings of Asian HEIs among their global competitors from 2015 to 2025. The study group consists of the top five HEIs indexed in the 2024 Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings from the nine countries with the largest population in Asia and the top five HEIs indexed in the 2025 Times Higher Education World University Rankings from the Russian Federation. The study found that HEIs in China, Japan, and Russia were the most stable examples that performed positively regarding world rankings. Although there was no solid continuity, the rankings of Indian HEIs generally showed a positive momentum. HEIs in Vietnam and Bangladesh did not have ongoing success because they were in the ranking index only for the last couple of years. HEIs in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Pakistan either performed in a neutral direction with slight fluctuations or showed decreasing ranking trends. The results revealed that the global rankings of HEIs in most Asian countries, except Japan, China, and Russia, lag behind their international competitors. Therefore, HEIs in most Asian countries could not establish a stable profile against their international competitors in global rankings.

Keywords

• world rankings
• Asian HEIs
• higher education studies
• international education

Asya’da Yükseköğretim: Asya Yükseköğretim Kurumlarının Değişen Dünya Sıralamaları (2015-2025)

Öz

Bu araştırma, 2015’ten 2025’e Asya yükseköğretim kurumlarının dünya sıralamalarının küresel rakipleri arasında değişen görünümünü karşılaştırmalı bir şekilde incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Çalışma grubu içerisinde Asya’da en fazla nüfusa sahip dokuz ülkenin 2024 Times Yükseköğretim Asya Üniversite Sıralamalarında indekslenen en iyi beş yükseköğretim kurumu ile Rusya Federasyonu’nun 2025 Times Yükseköğretim Dünya Sıralamalarında indekslenen en iyi beş yükseköğretim kurumu yer almaktadır. Çalışma; Çin, Japonya ve Rusya'daki yükseköğretim kurumlarının dünya sıralamalarında olumlu performans gösteren en istikrarlı örnekler olduğunu bulmuştur. Sağlam bir devamlılık olmamasına rağmen Hint yükseköğretim kurumlarının sıralamaları genel olarak olumlu bir ivme göstermiştir. Vietnam ve Bangladeş’teki yükseköğretim kurumları, yalnızca birkaç yıldır sıralama indeksinde yer aldıkları için devam eden bir başarıya sahip değildir. Filipinler, Endonezya, Tayland ve Pakistan'daki yükseköğretim kurumları, hafif dalgalanmalarla nötr veya azalan yönde sıralama eğilimleri göstermiştir. Sonuçlar; Japonya, Çin ve Rusya hariç çoğu Asya ülkesindeki yükseköğretim kurumlarının yükseköğretim sıralamaları bakımından uluslararası rakiplerinin gerisinde kaldığını ortaya koymuştur. Dolayısıyla Asya ülkelerinin çoğunda yükseköğretim kurumları, küresel sıralamalarda uluslararası rakipleri karşısında istikrarlı bir profil çizememiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• dünya sıralamaları
• Asya yükseköğretim kurumları
• yükseköğretim çalışmaları
• uluslararası eğitim

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