The Asia University Rankings, one of the regional rankings published by the UK-based Times Higher Education (THE), have been announced. METU ranked 72nd among 853 universities from 35 countries, becoming the highest-ranking Turkish university once again. The 2025 edition of the ranking included 114 new universities and four new countries.
A total of 91 universities from our country were included in this year’s ranking, with four listed in the top 100 and two placed in the 101-200 band. The list of Turkish universities that have ranked within the top 200 of the THE Asia University Rankings over the past two years is as follows:
| University | 2025 | 2024 |
| Middle East Technical University | 72 | 69 |
| Sabancı University | 74 | 75 |
| Koç University | 79 | 69 |
| İstanbul Technical University | 97 | 92 |
| Boğaziçi University | 123 | 141 |
| İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University | 158 | 134 |
| Hacettepe University | 201-250 | 166 |
| Yıldız Technical University | 201-250 | 175 |
| Bahçeşehir University | 251-300 | 196 |
Indicators used in the evaluation
In the THE Asia 2025 rankings, universities were assessed based on 18 performance indicators under five main areas: Research Quality, Research Environment, Teaching, Industry (knowledge transfer), and International Outlook.
Under the Research Quality category, which carries a weight of 30%, the following metrics were considered: citations per publication (7.5%), research strength (7.5%), research excellence (7.5%), and research influence (7.5%).
The Research Environment category, contributing 28% to the total score, included research reputation (15%) as measured through THE’s annual academic survey, as well as research income (6.5%) and research productivity (6.5%).
In the Teaching category (24.5%), also partly based on survey results, the indicators were teaching reputation (10%), staff-to-student ratio (4.5%), doctorate-to-bachelor’s ratio (2%), doctorates-awarded-to-academic-staff ratio (5.5%), and institutional income (2.5%).
The Industry category (10%) included industry income per academic staff (5%) and the number of patents citing university-affiliated research publications (5%).
Lastly, the International Outlook category, with a weight of 7.5%, considered the proportion of international students (2.5%), proportion of international staff (2.5%), and number of internationally co-authored publications (2.5%).
In the Research Quality category, METU ranked first among universities in our country with a score of 51 points.
China leads the rankings
China ranked as the most successful country in the THE Asia Rankings, with five universities in the top 10, including those in the first and second positions. Singapore and Hong Kong each had two universities in the top 10, while Japan was represented by one university.
The number of universities from our country listed in the top 200 decreased from nine in 2024 to six in 2025. Among the higher education institutions that were included last year, seven did not retain their positions, while two universities moved up in the rankings.
Detailed information on the results of the THE Asia University Rankings can be accessed here.
