- AppliedHE launches its first-ever ALL ASIA Public & Private University Rankings, putting student experience, satisfaction, and employability at the core of evaluation.
- A total of 493 universities from 41 Asian countries assessed across six dimensions, marking a shift toward student-centric and outcomes-based higher education benchmarking.
- Yonsei University tops Asia’s private category and the University of Hong Kong leads the public list, reflecting a competitive, diverse, and rapidly evolving higher education landscape across the continent.
AppliedHE has announced the release of its first-ever AppliedHE Public & Private University Rankings: ALL ASIA, which, for the first time on the continent, comparatively assessed public and private universities and placed student experience, feedback, and employability at the heart of its assessment. Announced at the AppliedHE Xchange hosted at Sunway University, the launch brings about a new era in how the quality of higher education will be measured across the continent by going beyond traditional metrics to a more student-focused, outcomes-based methodology.
The annual Xchange brings together the region's higher education leaders, policymakers, and industry representatives along with their counterparts from other global regions and is, therefore, an ideal platform for introducing a ranking system designed to reflect the evolving expectations of students and institutions.
The new ranking framework directly responds to the growing call for more meaningful evaluation tools that capture the richness and diversity of Asia's varied higher education systems. AppliedHE will provide a more equitable comparison by clearly distinguishing between public and private institutions, recognizing differences in mission, funding structures, and societal roles.
The rankings also emphasize real-world outcomes, such as employability and student satisfaction, or those often underrepresented in traditional academic rankings. Such an approach acknowledges that universities today are assessed not only by their research output or reputation but by the value they deliver to students, communities, and industries.
A total of 493 universities from 41 Asian countries appeared in the inaugural edition, demonstrating wide engagement across the region. Institutions were assessed across six core dimensions: Community Engagement, Employability, Student Satisfaction, Research Excellence, Internationalisation, and Peer Recognition. Taken together, these indicators enable a comprehensive picture of institutional performance to emerge that extends beyond academic prestige and captures the broader educational and social contribution of universities.
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The inclusion of student-centered measures reflects a recognition that learners are arguably the most important constituency in the higher education ecosystem and that their experiences should be foregrounded in any holistic evaluation. The rankings also show strong regional representation, with many showcasing the recent rapid expansion and diversification of Asia’s higher education landscape.
Indonesia had the most representatives overall, with 73 ranked universities, followed by the Philippines with 60 institutions and Malaysia with 44. India took 29 places on the list while South Korea claimed 28 universities. Most importantly, all six regions of Asia feature in the rankings-a sure fact demonstrating that high-quality higher education can be available across the continent, as academic excellence is no longer concentrated in a small cluster of countries.
Yonsei University took the number one spot among private universities in Asia, followed by Sungkyunkwan University and Korea University, reflecting South Korea’s high ranking and strong private higher education sector. On the public side, the University of Hong Kong earned the highest ranking, followed by the National University of Singapore and Peking University. Sunway University retained the title of Southeast Asia’s best private university, ranking 6th in the overall category for private institutions, while the National University of Singapore was the top-ranked public university in the region.
Altogether, these findings point to a progressive, competitive, and increasingly influential higher education environment in the region. Public and private institutions rise as regional leaders, secure their global spots, and prove to be competent drivers of innovation and progress in society. The AppliedHE ALL ASIA Rankings capture this momentum, offering a fresh perspective that celebrates the diversity, ambition, and upward trajectory of Asian universities.
