QS Top 50 Under 50 2019 – What it means for international students

21 Jun 2018

Nanyang Technological University in Singapore held onto first place in this year’s QS top 50 Under 50 Rankings, scoring 91.3/100 in a range of criteria, including research impact and staff to student ratio.

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology – aged 27-years-old – and Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) – aged 47-years-old – also managed to hold their places from last year’s rankings in second and third, respectively.

Here are the Top 50 universities Under 50 years old, according to QS World Rankings…

Ranking	Institution	Country
1	Nanyang Technological University	Singapore
2	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology	Hong Kong
3	Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology	South Korea
4	Université PSL	France
5	City University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong
6	Pohang University of Science And Technology (POSTECH)	South Korea
7	The Hong Kong Polytechnic University	Hong Kong
8	CentraleSupélec	France
9	Aalto University	Finland
10	University of Technology Sydney	Australia
11	Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna Pisa di Studi Universitari e di Perfezionamento	Italy
12	Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia	Malaysia
13	Universiti Putra Malaysia	Malaysia
14	Universiti Sains Malaysia	Malaysia
15	Maastricht University	Netherlands
16	University of Wollongong	Australia
17	University of Antwerp	Belgium
18	Universiti Teknologi Malaysia	Malaysia
19	Queensland University of Technology	Australia
20	Curtin University	Australia
21	RMIT University	Australia
22	Universidad Carlos III de Madrid	Spain
23	National Taiwan University of Science and Technology	Taiwan
24	University of Tsukuba	Japan
25	University of South Australia	Australia
26	Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya	Spain
27	Hong Kong Baptist University	Hong Kong
28	National Yang-Ming University	Taiwan
29	Universitat Pompeu Fabra	Spain
30	Linköping University	Sweden
31	Deakin University	Australia
32	Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology	South Korea
33	Khalifa University	United Arab Emirates
34	Universiti Brunei Darussalam	Brunei
35	Griffith University	Australia
36	Qatar University	Qatar
37	Aalborg University	Denmark
38	National Research University Higher School of Economics	Russia
39	United Arab Emirates University	United Arab Emirates
40	Oxford Brookes University	UK
41	Tampere University of Technology	Finland
42	Universidad Austral	Argentina
43	James Cook University	Australia
44	American University of Sharjah	United Arab Emirates
45	Swinburne University of Technology	Australia
46	L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University	Kazakhstan
47	Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences	Pakistan
48	National Sun Yat-sen University	Taiwan
49	Universidade Nova de Lisboa	Portugal
50	Ben Gurion University of The Negev	Israel

All of the top three universities can be found in Asia, while 16 of the top 50 Under 50 are also located on the continent. From this, it’s expected the trend towards studying in the economic powerhouse of Asia will continue, and Asian students will be much more likely to study closer to home.

Australia was the most represented country in the rankings, with 11 universities earning a place on the league table.

The US, UK and Canada are somewhat absent in the rankings. The UK features one institution – Oxford Brookes University, located in the same town as its superior Oxford University – while the US and Canada have no universities in the Top 50 Under 50 2019.

This could see Australia reclaim its place as third most popular study abroad destination, a title that was stolen by Canada this year.

Saying that, the QS Top 50 Under 50 tell a very different story to the Times Higher Education Young University Rankings released earlier this month. In these rankings, the UK was the most represented nation, followed by Australia. This indicates that it’s still too early draw certain predictions about what the rankings will mean for international students.

New Ranking: QS Top 50 Under 50 2019 is out now! #QSWUR https://t.co/leYegGZlaw

— QS Top Universities (@TopUnis) June 21, 2018

Elsewhere in Europe fared better, with France, the Netherlands, Spain and Finland all featuring on the list.

The Middle East also made an appearance, with Israel, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and the United Emirates cropping up.

Dr Richard Holmes, Editor of University Ranking Watch told Study International: “New universities, especially in Asia and especially with strengths in technology, such as KAIST and Nanyang have been outscoring their older competitors in some of the significant rankings.”

“Some new universities…seem to have more freedom to introduce innovative curricula, recruit international staff and leadership, avoid political interference and social restrictions in a way that established universities are unable to,” he added.

“But it seems that they need substantial support from state and/or private enterprise to really get off the ground.”