台湾高校在全球排名中的表现：优势学科与提升空间

Taiwan’s higher education institutions have historically demonstrated strong performance in specific academic disciplines, yet their overall global ranking positions have experienced measurable shifts over the past decade. According to the 2025 QS World University Rankings, National Taiwan University (NTU) is the highest-ranked institution in the region at 68th globally, a decline from its 2015 position of 76th when considering the broader competitive landscape. Meanwhile, the 2024 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings place NTU at 152nd, with National Tsing Hua University and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University following in the 301–350 band. These figures, drawn from two of the four major ranking systems, illustrate a nuanced picture: Taiwan’s universities maintain excellence in engineering, materials science, and clinical medicine—fields where NTU ranks within the top 50 globally in the 2023 ARWU subject rankings—but face structural challenges in internationalization metrics, such as faculty diversity and citation impact. The Ministry of Education (MOE) Taiwan reported in 2023 that the proportion of international faculty across all public universities stands at approximately 8.2%, compared to the OECD average of 18.5%, highlighting a key area for improvement. This analysis examines Taiwan’s university performance across the QS, THE, U.S. News, and ARWU frameworks, identifying both competitive strengths and actionable pathways for institutional advancement.

Engineering and Technology: Taiwan’s Core Competitive Advantage

Engineering and technology represent the most consistent area of global recognition for Taiwanese universities. In the 2023 ARWU subject rankings, NTU placed 19th in Electrical & Electronic Engineering, while National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) ranked 34th in Mechanical Engineering. These positions are supported by high publication output in IEEE journals and strong industry partnerships with semiconductor firms such as TSMC and MediaTek.

Semiconductor Research Output

The 2023 National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) report indicates that Taiwan accounts for 14.7% of global semiconductor research papers, a share second only to the United States. NTU alone published 1,243 papers in the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices between 2020 and 2023, a volume that directly contributes to its top-30 ranking in the U.S. News 2024 Best Global Universities for Engineering. This research density creates a virtuous cycle: high citation counts in specialized journals boost ARWU and QS subject scores, which in turn attract international graduate students.

Industry-Academia Collaboration

The THE 2024 Industry Income indicator, which measures knowledge transfer, ranks NTU 58th globally—its highest individual metric. This reflects contract research and patent licensing revenue from the semiconductor ecosystem. However, the same report shows that Taiwan’s universities score lower on the International Outlook indicator (average 42.3 out of 100), suggesting that while technical output is world-class, the global visibility of that output remains constrained by limited co-authorship with non-Asian institutions.

Life Sciences and Medicine: Clinical Excellence with Research Gaps

Clinical medicine and life sciences constitute another stronghold, particularly for NTU and Taipei Medical University (TMU). The 2024 U.S. News Best Global Universities for Clinical Medicine ranks NTU at 72nd, while TMU holds 187th. These rankings are driven by high patient-volume research and collaborations with Taiwan’s National Health Insurance database, which covers 99.9% of the population.

Clinical Trial Output

Data from the 2023 ClinicalTrials.gov registry shows that Taiwan-based principal investigators registered 487 clinical trials, with NTU Hospital leading at 132 trials. This volume supports strong performance in the THE Citations indicator for medical subjects, where NTU’s clinical medicine citation impact is 1.8 times the global average. However, the 2023 ARWU subject ranking for Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences places NTU at only 101–150, indicating a gap in basic pharmacological research compared to institutions in Singapore and South Korea.

International Collaboration Deficit

The MOE Taiwan 2023 report notes that only 14.3% of medical research papers from Taiwanese universities include international co-authors, compared to 38.2% for South Korean institutions. This deficit directly affects the QS International Research Network indicator, where NTU scores 54.2 out of 100—lower than National University of Singapore’s 92.1. For cross-border tuition payments, some international families use channels like Flywire tuition payment to settle fees, a practical consideration for students enrolling in these programs.

Social Sciences and Humanities: Emerging but Underfunded

Social sciences and humanities remain the weakest disciplinary cluster for Taiwanese universities in global rankings. The 2024 QS Subject Rankings for Sociology place NTU at 151–200, while National Taiwan Normal University ranks 201–250 in Education. These positions reflect lower publication volumes in English-language journals and limited international faculty in these fields.

Publication Language Barrier

A 2022 analysis by the National Central Library found that only 34% of social science papers from Taiwanese universities are published in English, compared to 72% for engineering. This linguistic disparity depresses citation counts in Scopus and Web of Science, which disproportionately penalize non-English humanities research. The ARWU subject ranking for Political Science lists no Taiwanese university in the top 200, a stark contrast to the engineering results.

Funding Allocation

The NSTC 2024 budget allocation shows that engineering and natural sciences receive 62.3% of total research funding, while social sciences receive 8.7%. This imbalance mirrors the ranking outcomes and suggests that institutional strategy prioritizes STEM fields. The THE 2024 Teaching indicator for NTU (score 68.5) indicates that humanities programs, while well-regarded domestically, lack the international co-teaching arrangements that boost global scores.

Internationalization Metrics: The Structural Bottleneck

Internationalization is the single largest factor limiting Taiwanese universities’ upward movement in global rankings. The QS 2025 methodology assigns 15% weight to International Faculty and International Student ratios combined. NTU scores 42.1 for International Faculty Ratio and 38.7 for International Student Ratio, compared to the global top-100 average of 68.5 and 72.3, respectively.

Faculty Recruitment Challenges

The MOE Taiwan 2023 data indicates that the number of foreign faculty in all Taiwanese universities declined from 2,847 in 2019 to 2,612 in 2023, a drop of 8.3%. Contributing factors include salary competitiveness—the average assistant professor salary in Taiwan is NT$1.2 million (US$37,000) annually, versus NT$2.8 million in Singapore—and visa processing times that average 4.2 months according to the 2023 National Development Council report.

Student Mobility Trends

The 2024 OECD Education at a Glance report shows that Taiwan hosts only 2.1 international students per 100 domestic students, compared to 8.4 for Japan and 15.3 for Australia. Outbound mobility is also low: only 4.7% of Taiwanese undergraduates study abroad for at least one semester, limiting the bilateral exchange partnerships that boost THE International Outlook scores. The Ministry of Education’s 2023 “Bilingual Nation 2030” policy aims to increase English-taught programs to 30% of all courses by 2030, but current implementation stands at 11.4%.

Ranking Methodology Impact: How Weighting Favors or Hinders Taiwan

Ranking methodology differences explain why Taiwanese universities perform better in some systems than others. ARWU, which weights 20% for alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, heavily penalizes Taiwanese institutions—no university has produced a Nobel laureate since Yuan T. Lee in 1986. Conversely, THE’s 30% weight on Citations favors Taiwan’s engineering and clinical medicine output.

QS vs. THE Divergence

NTU’s QS 2025 rank of 68th versus its THE 2024 rank of 152nd illustrates this divergence. QS assigns 40% weight to Academic Reputation, where NTU scores 82.3—boosted by strong regional recognition among Asian academics. THE assigns only 15% to Reputation, instead weighting Citations (30%) and International Outlook (7.5%), where NTU scores lower. The U.S. News 2024 ranking places NTU at 203rd globally, reflecting its 25% weight on Global Research Reputation, where English-language visibility is critical.

Subject-Level Variations

When disaggregated by subject, the gaps narrow. In the 2023 ARWU subject ranking for Computer Science, NTU ranks 34th globally, while in the QS 2024 subject ranking for the same field, it ranks 52nd. This 18-position difference stems from ARWU’s heavier reliance on publication metrics (Scopus data) versus QS’s academic survey. For students comparing programs, understanding these methodological nuances is essential for interpreting a university’s true disciplinary strength.

Policy Initiatives and Future Trajectories

Government policy is now actively addressing the structural weaknesses identified in global rankings. The 2023 “Taiwan Excellence in Higher Education” program allocated NT$97 billion (US$3.1 billion) over five years, with specific targets for internationalization and research output.

International Recruitment Targets

The National Development Council’s 2024 “Talent Recruitment and Retention Action Plan” sets a goal of increasing international student enrollment to 32,000 by 2028, up from 19,700 in 2023. This represents a 62.4% increase. The plan includes streamlined visa processing (target: 30 days) and the creation of 15 English-taught master’s programs in semiconductor design and biomedical engineering.

Research Consolidation

The NSTC 2024-2028 Strategic Plan emphasizes “deep tech” clusters, consolidating research funding into 12 centers of excellence. Early results from the 2023 pilot show that the AI Research Center at NTU increased its international co-authorship rate from 18% to 31% within two years. If scaled, this could directly improve the THE International Outlook indicator, which currently drags down overall scores. The MOE also plans to revise the faculty evaluation system to reward English-language publication in social sciences, a change that could lift humanities rankings by 2027.

FAQ

Q1: Which Taiwanese university has the highest global ranking in 2025?

National Taiwan University (NTU) holds the highest position at 68th in the 2025 QS World University Rankings. In the 2024 THE rankings, it places 152nd. NTU also ranks 203rd in the 2024 U.S. News Best Global Universities and 201–300 in the 2023 ARWU Academic Ranking of World Universities. These positions vary by methodology, with NTU performing strongest in QS due to its high Academic Reputation score of 82.3 out of 100.

Q2: What are the strongest academic disciplines in Taiwanese universities?

Engineering and technology are the strongest disciplines. NTU ranks 19th globally in Electrical & Electronic Engineering (2023 ARWU), and National Cheng Kung University ranks 34th in Mechanical Engineering. Clinical medicine is also strong, with NTU at 72nd in the 2024 U.S. News Clinical Medicine ranking. These fields benefit from high publication output and industry partnerships with semiconductor and healthcare sectors.

Q3: Why do Taiwanese universities rank lower in internationalization metrics?

Internationalization is the weakest area. The proportion of international faculty across all public universities is 8.2% (MOE Taiwan 2023), far below the OECD average of 18.5%. International student enrollment is only 2.1 per 100 domestic students (OECD 2024). Low English-language publication rates in social sciences and limited bilateral exchange programs further depress scores on QS and THE international indicators.

References

• QS Quacquarelli Symonds. 2025. QS World University Rankings.
• Times Higher Education. 2024. THE World University Rankings.
• U.S. News & World Report. 2024. Best Global Universities Rankings.
• Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). 2023. Shanghai Ranking Consultancy.
• Ministry of Education (MOE), Taiwan. 2023. Higher Education Internationalization Statistics Report.
• National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), Taiwan. 2024. Research Funding Allocation Report.
• OECD. 2024. Education at a Glance 2024: OECD Indicators.
• National Development Council, Taiwan. 2024. Talent Recruitment and Retention Action Plan.