华新网 2004-11-6 英国《泰晤士报》（Times of London）十一月四日公布全球五十间最佳大学排名，哈佛大学被选为龙头大学，亚洲地区学府中以东京大学评分最高排第12位，北大排名17，国大则位列18。另外南大排名50，清华大学则位于50名以外，排名第62。 这次评分基于五大部份，包括学术研究的影响力、教授与学生比例、院校吸引海外学生的能力、吸引学者的能力，以及来自八十八个地区、约一千三百名学者自评的分数订定。点击这里下载 the Times Higher Education Supplement 16页的世界前200名大学排名报告(WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS EDITORIAL) 以下是转自The Straits Times 2004-11-06 的新闻 Nov 6, 2004 NUS beats top US varsities to rank No.18 Global survey of 200 best universities cites its research activities and professor-student ratio By Sandra Davie Education Correspondent THE National University of Singapore (NUS) has beaten several reputable institutions, including Cornell and Columbia in the United States, to emerge No. 18 in a Times of London ranking of the world's 200 best universities. In the survey attempted for the first time and out last Thursday, American institutions took seven of the top 10 positions, with 368-year-old Harvard University at No.1. But three Asian universities - Tokyo University, Beijing University and NUS - made the top 20. NUS not only beat well-known institutions in the United States, but also top research institutions such as McGill University in Canada, Melbourne University in Australia and the French Ecole Polytechnique. Nanyang Technological University (NTU) came in at No. 50, ahead of Britain's Warwick and Bristol universities, and Australia's RMIT University, Macquarie and Curtin, all popular with Singapore students heading overseas.The four-year-old Singapore Management University which specialises in business was not included, as single-subject institutions were left out. For the survey, the Times asked about 1,300 academics in 88 countries to name the best institutions in fields they were knowledgeable about. The ranking then took into account the amount of cited research produced by faculty members as an indicator of intellectual vitality, the ratio of professors to students and a university's success in attracting foreign students and internationally renowned academics. Various reputable publications give information on research done by staff of a university. Mr John O'Leary, editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement, was quoted as saying that leading universities increasingly define themselves in terms of international competition. Echoing that, NUS president Shih Choon Fong said he was delighted. He said higher education had become a global industry and NUS had to compete globally with the best for academic talent and students. "We welcome these international comparisons, because we are confident of the quality of our education at NUS, and we can only raise our profile further if we make it to such lists,"he said. He was pleased to find NUS in good company. "We are just behind Beijing, which draws the best students from over a billion people," said Professor Shih who chairs the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, a group of 36 research universities in 16 economies. He also noted that the Times ranking took into account the number of foreign students and top academics. A fifth of the 22,000 undergraduates and half the 9,000 postgraduates at NUS are foreigners. Half of its 2,000 academics were from overseas and many were top names in their field, he said. They include Professor Chris Earley of the London Business School, who is now dean-designate of the NUS Business School, the biochemistry department's Professor Barry Halliwell from King's College London, and assistant professors Markus Wenk from Yale University and Liou Yih Cherng from Harvard Medical School. Prof Shih also noted that the Times survey tied in well with a Straits Times survey released two weeks ago which found that NUS was the top choice of most junior college students polled. NTU's deputy president, Professor Er Meng Hwa, said Singaporeans could be proud of the standing of their two public universities. He said the 20-something NTU was much younger than the 100-year-old NUS and only recently made the move to become a more comprehensive university. "We expect the rankings to change as we develop our new schools fully,"he said.