Since its inception in the year 1905, the National University of Singapore has been delivering high-quality education and significant contribution towards research. Notably, it is one of the top universities in Singapore to have consistently maintained its position in the list of top-50 global institutions in the world and #1 in the Asia Pacific and Singapore.

These rankings are released on an annual basis and have been very helpful for students in narrowing down the top institutes in the world where they can probably fulfill their academic and career goals. With many institutes in the race, the National University Singapore has been able to attain 21st rank in THE world university rankings 2022 and 11th in the QS world university rankings 2023. NUS gave tough competition to the top-Asian Universities to carve a place at #1 in the QS Global’s list of top universities in Asia 2021.

NUS Ranking Highlights

  • Ranked 11th in Top Universities by QS World in 2023
  • Ranked 1st in Asian University Rankings by QS World in 2022
  • Ranked as the 2nd Best Global Universities in Asia by US News 2022
  • Ranked 1st in Best Engineering – Petroleum subject by QS World Ranking 2022
  • Ranked 1st by Academic Rankings of World Universities 2020

National University of Singapore World Ranking

NUS Qs World Ranking vs THE World Ranking

Since 2012, NUS has advanced considerably in the QS World University Rankings list by jumping to #11 in 2023 from #25 in 2012. Securing a place in the top-20 institutions in the world in itself is a great achievement for NUS when nearly 1400 institutions were in the competition. The whole credit of success of the National University of Singapore in the world rankings goes to its significant contribution towards research, teaching quality, increase in the number of research citations, and collaborations with various organizations across the globe.

As per the latest world ranking list released by Times Higher Education, NUS has been consistent in holding its last year’s position of 25, however, remarkably improved in terms of overall scores. A variety of metrics are used to calculate the overall score which includes quality of teaching, research activities, number of citations, industry income, and international outcome.

Although the ranking of NUS seems to be quite impressive as per the list of QS World Rankings and Times Higher Education, the university has lagged behind a bit in the Best Global Universities list released by US News & World Report as it stands at #32 position globally.

National University of Singapore Ranking in Asia

NUS QS Asia Ranking vs THE Asia Ranking

Coming to rankings of universities in Asia, NUS has continued its legacy of being within the top three universities in Singapore for the past 5 years. As per the ‘Best universities in Asia 2022’ list by Times Higher Education, NUS stands at #3 after Tsinghua University (#1) and Peking University (#2) and followed by University of Hong Kong (#4) and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (#5).

While according to the QS Asian University Rankings, NUS has consistently ranked at #1 since 2012, except for the year 2018 when the ranking dropped to #2. Notably, the university has attained an overall score of 100, and here is the further bifurcation:

Academic Reputation 100
Employer Reputation 100
Faculty Students 93.7
International Faculty 100
International Students 97.5
Faculty Staff with PhD 87.3
Papers per faculty 58.6
Citations per paper 99.9
Outbound exchange 95.2
Inbound exchange 97.9
International Research Network 100

National University of Singapore Subject-wise Ranking

NUS programs have performed exceptionally well in the QS WUR by Subject Rankings 2022. A total of 6 of its subject areas ranked in the top 10 with Petroleum Engineering ranking at #1. These rankings were conferred considering a variety of metrics, such as academic reputation, employer reputation, H-index citations, and citations per paper. The table given below indicates the worldwide ranking of subject areas taught at NUS as per the QS rankings.

Subject Rank
Engineering- Petroleum 1
Engineering- Chemical 3
Engineering- Civil and Structural 3
Social Policy & Administration 4
Geography 5
Computer Science & Information Systems 6
Engineering Technology 7
Chemistry 8
Statistics & Operational Research 12
Business and Management Studies 13

Considering the subject rankings conferred by the Times Higher Education, a total of 10 subject areas of NUS have been ranked in the top 50 including 6 subjects ranking within the top 20.

Tabulated below are the ranks of the NUS subjects that ranked in the top 50:

Subject Rank
Arts & Humanities 34
Clinical, pre-clinical & Health 17
Engineering & Technology 10
Life Sciences 24
Physical Sciences 16
Social Sciences 19
Business & Economics 15
Computer Science 8
Law 8
Psychology 58

The National University of Singapore is not simply a flagship institution to study in Singapore but had a strong showing in the world rankings too. Its fare in the overall rankings can be purely attributed to its academics and research contribution along with a strong emphasis on international outlook. Thus, NUS stands as the best choice for any Asian student who is seeking world-class education at an affordable cost.