Top universities in Thailand have seen their rankings drop in the latest Times Higher Education (THE) rankings, which also highlight that their leading peers in Singapore and Malaysia remain ahead.
The Asian University Rankings 2025, published on Thursday, showed that Chulalongkorn and Mahidol universities retained their positions as the top two tertiary institutions in the country, though their rankings have fallen compared to last year.
Chulalongkorn University (CU) ranked 132nd - the best in Thailand - among all 20 selected Thai universities in the survey, but it was dropped from 117th last year. Mahidol University (MU) came in second at 199th, falling 60 positions from 139th.
King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), another Thai university in the top 200 last year, now slipped into the 201-250 grouping. Seventeen others representing Thailand ranked between 251 and 600 or lower.
The British-based magazine does not assign specific rankings to universities below the 200 position, instead grouping them in bands of 50.
Chulalongkorn received an overall score of 49.3, while Mahidol scored 43.9.
The campus of Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. (File photo)
This year, the best university in Asia was still Tsinghua University in China, scoring 93, narrowly edging its long-time rival, Peking University, the second best at 92.9.
"Our analysis finds that China's university excellence initiative has contributed to its stellar, and growing performance," THE stated.
In Southeast Asia, Singapore cemented its status as the hub of higher education in the region, with the National University of Singapore at third and Nanyang Technological University ranked fourth.
Malaysia is the other country in Southeast Asia that holds stronger positions than Thailand. The southern neighbouring country has six universities ranked above Thailand, led by Universiti Teknologi Petronas at 43rd and the University of Malaya at 64th. Universiti Putra Malaysia also stayed in the same position as Chulalongkorn.
Best in Thailand but...
- Thailand: Chulalongkorn University at 132nd
- Singapore: National University of Singapore at 3rd
- Malaysia: Universiti Teknologi Petronas at 43rd
- Indonesia: University of Indonesia at 201-250
- Philippines: Ateneo de Manila University and University of the Philippines at 501-600
For 2025, THE ranked 853 universities from 35 countries/territories based on indicators across several areas, including research, teaching, knowledge transfer and international outlook.