Universitas Indonesia (UI) is the highest ranked university in Indonesia, 10th in Southeast Asia, and 49th in Asia, according to the released assessment by QS Quacquarelli Symonds, a global higher education analyst and compiler of QS World University Rankings. “In terms of performance in QS Asia University Rankings, Universitas Indonesia experienced a significant increase in rank from 56th in 2022 to 49th in 2023. This is a proud achievement achieved by Universitas Indonesia to be the top university in Indonesia,” said UI Rector Prof. Ari Kuncoro, S.E., M.A., Ph.D., responding to the good news about the achievements of the campus he leads. For this reason, Prof. Ari highly appreciates the hard work of the UI academic community.
QS conducts assessments based on academic and employer recognition, research, human resources, and internationalization. The methodology used to create QS Asia University Rankings is similar to that used for QS World University Rankings, with some additional indicators and adjusted weights. The 11 indicators used to compile QS Asia University Rankings are as follows, Academic Reputation (30%), Employer Reputation (20%), Faculty/Student Ratio (10%), International Research Network (10%), Citations per Paper (10%) and Papers per Faculty (5%), Staff with a PhD (5%), Proportion of International Faculty (2.5%), Proportion of International Students (2.5%), and Proportion of Inbound Exchange Students (2.5%) and Proportion of Outbound Exchange Students (2.5%).
The assessment was conducted by QS Asia University Rankings 2023 on 760 universities. Quoting from the official press release published by QS, UI is rated as a leading institution that is well regarded by international academics and entrepreneurs. QS assessed UI’s good performance in inbound and outbound student exchange indicators.
In the press release, five Indonesian universities were listed among the top 100 in Asia in the Academic Reputation indicator, based on the QS survey of more than 151,000 international academics. Universitas Gadjah Mada ranks 39th regionally in this indicator, followed by Universitas Indonesia at 41st, Institut Teknologi Bandung (45th), Universitas Airlangga (62nd), and IPB University (91st).
Four Indonesian universities are among Asia’s top 50 in the Employer Reputation indicator, based on the QS survey of more than 99,000 international employers. Universitas Indonesia ranks 40th regionally in this indicator, followed by Universitas Airlangga at 46th, Universitas Gadjah Mada (47th), and Institut Teknologi Bandung (45th).
In QS research productivity measures, no Indonesian university is among the regional top 300 in Papers per Faculty and research impact Citations per Paper indicator. Only Universitas Indonesia appears among Asia’s top 150 in the QS International Research Network indicator, a measure of research cooperation.
As for the Inbound Exchange Students indicator, seven of Asia’s top 100 universities are Indonesian universities, led by Universitas Indonesia which ranks 25th regionally in this indicator. On the Outbound Exchange Students indicator, three of Asia’s top 20 institutions are Indonesian: Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS Surabaya), Universitas Indonesia, and BINUS University.
Ben Sowter, the QS Senior Vice-President, said, “UI exemplifies how progress and innovation can be successfully accelerated by building effective partnerships with entrepreneurs and players across multiple industries. This approach helps UI to develop several innovative solutions and obtain 267 patents by 2022.”
Sowter added that Indonesia must achieve important goals to realize its full potential, including increasing higher education attainment—only 19% of Indonesians aged 25-34 will have tertiary qualifications in 2021 compared to an average of 47% across The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries—and building its research capabilities. Nevertheless, Indonesia’s leading universities are clearly progressing towards ambitious goals. “By doing so, it strengthens their reputation among international academics and entrepreneurs, as reflected in this edition of Asia University Rankings,” he said.
