NUS holds 17th in THE rankings, NTU slips to 31st amid rising global student share

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The National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have retained strong positions in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2026, released this week.

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NUS remained at 17th place globally—its highest-ever sustained position—while NTU slipped slightly from 30th to 31st.

The rankings, which assessed 2,191 institutions across 115 countries and territories, are based on five weighted indicators: teaching, research environment, research quality, industry engagement, and international outlook.

Both NUS and NTU continued to perform well across most categories. However, “teaching” remained the lowest-scoring metric for both, with NUS scoring 78.6 and NTU 65.8, compared to higher scores in other categories ranging up to 100.

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In tandem with the rankings release, new data shows that international students now make up 31% of the student population at both universities.

At NUS, this marks an increase from 26% the previous year, with the total student body rising from 34,388 to 35,558.

At NTU, the international student percentage increased from 29% to 31%, with a total enrolment of 25,859.

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These figures return to levels last recorded in 2016 and 2018, when international enrolment at NUS and NTU stood at 32% and 31% respectively, according to earlier THE data.

While international student participation is a common feature of globally ranked institutions, the rising proportion has drawn public interest in Singapore due to past sensitivities around university access for local students.

Background on university enrolment policy and foreign student ratios

In 2007, a diplomatic cable released via WikiLeaks reported that an Assistant Director at the Ministry of Education (MOE), Cheryl Chan, had stated that university enrolment would be capped at 20–25% of the cohort, citing labour market needs.

At that time, only 23% of students entering primary school reportedly went on to complete a degree at a local four-year university.

MOE later addressed these remarks in a Facebook post in 2011, stating that the information was “outdated”.

The ministry clarified that the government then provided publicly-funded university places for 26% of the Primary 1 cohort, and was targeting 30% by 2015.

The ministry added that it had established a review committee to explore expanded pathways in university education, aligning with students’ aspirations and national economic needs.

In a now-deleted article published on the government’s Factually platform, the Ministry of Education (MOE) responded to recurring claims that a minimum quota for international students exists at Singapore’s autonomous universities.

The article rejected such claims outright, stating:

“There is no such minimum quota. Singapore is not actively courting foreign students to fulfil any form of minimum quota.”

To support its point, the article cited then-Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung’s response to a Parliamentary question raised by former Workers’ Party Member of Parliament Leon Perera in July 2017.

In his reply, Ong explained:

“University places are planned first and foremost for Singaporeans, in line with the cohort participation rate target of 40% by 2020. A small proportion of places are then provided for international students as they add diversity and vibrancy to the university, and enhance the educational experience for Singaporean students.”

He noted that, over the previous five years, international students had made up no more than 15% of undergraduate intake at Singapore’s publicly funded universities, and in 2016 specifically, the figure stood at around 10%, with permanent residents comprising another 5%.

Ong also provided figures for postgraduate programmes, explaining that these were not centrally planned by nationality but were instead determined by applications:

“On average, 32% of the intake across the various postgraduate programmes each year were Singaporeans. Permanent residents and international students comprised another 5% and 63% of intake respectively.”

Based on enrolment data published by NUS for the 2016/2017 academic year, undergraduate students formed approximately 74% of the total student population, while postgraduates made up around 26%.

Although postgraduate students were a minority, the significantly higher proportion of international students among them—as cited by Ong—may help explain why the overall international student share reported by Times Higher Education stood at 31% for that year.

However, as a detailed nationality breakdown across academic levels was not included in the rankings data, the extent to which postgraduate intake influenced the reported figure cannot be confirmed with certainty.

The post NUS holds 17th in THE rankings, NTU slips to 31st amid rising global student share appeared first on The Online Citizen.



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