LONDON— The University of Tokyo rose to 36th from 42nd in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020, announced Wednesday.
The number of Japanese universities in the top 200 slots stood at only two, unchanged from the previous year, according to the latest annual rankings by the Times Higher Education, a British magazine.
Top slots of the list were occupied mainly by universities in Britain and the United States.
The University of Oxford in Britain topped the list for the fourth consecutive year. The California Institute of Technology in the United States came second, up from fifth, and the University of Cambridge in Britain ranked third, down from second.
Among universities in Asia, China’s Tsinghua University ranked highest, at 23rd, down from 22nd. Peking University, also in China, came 24th, up from 31st.
Japan’s Kyoto University ranked 65th, unchanged from the previous year.
The numbers of Chinese and South Korean universities ranked in the top 200 slots came to seven and six, respectively.
Many Japanese universities failed to secure top positions in the rankings due chiefly to their lack of international outlook and the small number of research citations.
The Times Higher Education pointed out that China “is now home to the top two universities in Asia for the first time.”
The rankings covered a total of some 1,400 universities in 92 countries and regions.