The Best Universities in Japan: Times Higher Education Japan University Rankings 2017

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Times Higher Education reported that the ranking is led by the National Seven Universities – a group of institutions founded by the Empire of Japan between 1886 and 1939.

The Best Universities in Japan: Times Higher Education Japan University Rankings 2017
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Reading time 2 minutes
Reading Time: 2 minutes



Students wait for their entrance examination to start at the University of Tokyo's Hongo campus. / KYODO

Students wait for their entrance examination to start at the University of Tokyo’s Hongo campus. / KYODO

Times Higher Education

Times Higher Education published this Thursday the results of the latest edition of their Japan University Rankings, based on the teaching and learning environments that institutions offer students. The University of Tokyo took the number one spot in the rankings while Tohoku University and Kyoto University placed in second and third place respectively. 

This list is based on four broad “pillars”: resources, engagement, outcomes and environment. Times Higher Education reported that the ranking is led by the National Seven Universities – a group of institutions founded by the Empire of Japan between 1886 and 1939. Along with Tokyo, Tohoku and Kyoto, this alliance includes Nagoya University (fourth place), Osaka University (sixth), Kyushu University (seventh) and Hokkaido University (eighth).

Unlike in the US and other western countries, Japanese citizens are not evaluated based on their academic performance, but by their peers on the basis of the university to which they were admitted. Once admitted, most students graduate with little difficulty. “Japanese universities are traditionally a place for [students to have] free time,” explained Akihiko Kimijima, dean of the College of International Relations at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto.

View the full results for the Times Higher Education Japan University Rankings 2017.

Source: Times Higher Education

Karina Fuerte

(She/her). Editor in Chief at the Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education.

This article from Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education may be shared under the terms of the license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0