These are the world's best new universities

Some of the world’s best universities have existed for centuries. But age isn't everything.

The Times Higher Education (THE) Young University Rankings charts the performance of institutions under 50 years old. The organization found that Nanyang Technological University, Singapore leads the way as the best “young” university in 2023, followed by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL Research University Paris), which was in first place last year, falls to third.

The young university hierarchy uses the same 13 criteria and the THE’s main university rankings, but places less emphasis on reputation when weighting. Each university is judged across the core criteria of teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

There are three institutions from Hong Kong in the top 10, more than any other territory, while France has five institutions in the top 20.

Coming in 29th place, Italy’s Humanitas University is the highest new entry in the ranking.

There are 78 different territories represented in the rankings, which include 605 universities in total. Of these, 47 come from Turkey, and India follows closely behind with 45 institutions represented. Iran has overtaken the UK to become the third most represented nation.

India, Turkey and Iran have all seen the number of universities in the rankings at least double in the past five years.

Recognizing that the pandemic has widened the gaps in learning outcomes among schoolchildren in many countries, including India, the World Economic Forum collaborated with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and YuWaah! (Generation Unlimited India) to launch the Education 4.0 India initiative. The initiative convened over 40 partners from the education technology, government, academic and start-up communities to address these challenges through digital learning.