National University of Singapore (NUS) has lost the title of "Asia's top university" to China's Tsinghua University after three years of being in the first place.
This is also the first time that a university from China has claimed the top position in Asia, according to reports.
The 2018-2019 Times Higher Education World Rankings was released on Wednesday, September 26. The ranking lists the best universities globally. This year, NUS dropped by one spot to 23rd place. The higher ranks are dominated by universities from the United Kingdom and the United States.
NUS was first crowned the top university in Asia in the 2015-2016 ranking. It had beat the University of Tokyo to be the only Asian university in the global top 30 at 26th place, according to Todayonline.
On the other hand, Nanyang Technological University's ranking improved by one spot, claiming the 51st position.
Editor of Times Higher Education World Rankings, Ellie Bothwell, said that NUS is "no doubt" among the best in the world. The drop in ranking is due to a “slight fall in citation impact and share of international students and increased global competition”, she told Todayonline.
However, the “rise of China could result in NUS’ global position slipping again slightly in future years”. Therefore, NUS needs to ensure that "it can sustain its stellar research performance and continue to secure high levels of funding if it wants to prevent falling behind," she added.