Asiaweek
Top 10 Universities in Asia
1. UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO
Established: 1877 Address: 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113 Phone:
81-3-3812-2111 Fax: 81-3-5689-7344 Website: www.u-tokyo.ac.jp Est. annual living
and tuition expenses, foreign students: 2.1 million yen ($15,975)
The president of the University of Tokyo was unusually angry in his March
commencement speech. "I am deeply humiliated," said Hasumi Shigehiko. Several
graduates were among a slew of top bureaucrats and bankers arrested over
financial scandals. "If the climate peculiar to the university is in some way
related to their shameless behavior," Hasumi said, "the school must soberly
examine itself." In a way, his outburst illustrates the history and might of
Todai, as the university is commonly known. Since its founding a decade after
the Meiji Restoration overthrew the old feudal order, Todai has been the key
stepping-stone to power. The school has produced 10 post-war prime ministers and
five of 21 current cabinet members. Nearly 15% of top CEOs are Todai graduates,
as are, more tellingly, 60%-80% of elite bureaucrats. Any high-level scandal
will inevitably touch the university and tarnish its image.
But there is no doubt that the school's 27,300 students are among the best and
brightest in the country. "Entering the Red Gate" - the historic entrance to its
main campus in Tokyo's Hongo district - is a privilege reserved to the few who
survive years of study and grueling entrance examinations. Once in, though,
ascent to the heights of the civil service and the corporate world is almost
guaranteed. Not that this necessarily creates elitists. "There are many Todai
students who do not fit the stereotype," says Sasaki Kyoko, a television
announcer who graduated two years ago.
Of course, the university is not just a training ground for future mandarins.
Its faculties of literature, science, engineering, architecture and medicine are
some of Japan's best. The school boasts four Nobel laureates among its alumni,
including 1994 literature prize winner Oe Kenzaburo. Its researchers are at the
forefront of fields such as earthquake studies and treatment of the AIDS virus.
Todai is also trying to shake its conservative image by taking on more
unconventional teachers, including critics of the Japanese-style education that
it embodies. But change comes slowly. When Terao Yoshiko became the first woman
professor to be granted tenure in the law faculty in 1996, her appointment made
the national news.
- By Murakami Mutsuko
2. TOHOKU UNIVERSITY
Established: 1907 Address: 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-77 Phone:
81-22-217-5900 Fax: 81-22-217-4846 Website: www.tohoku.ac.jp Est. annual living
and tuition expenses, foreign students: 1.7 million yen ($12,930)>>>
"Open door" is how Tohoku University describes its educational policy, and it
lives up to that standard. Japan's third Imperial university was the first elite
school to admit women and began granting degrees to foreign students in 1911.
Today some of those doors are literally open. Tohoku keeps its campus running
round the clock, a rarity among Japanese schools, so that researchers can work
as late or early as they want. Such liberal attitudes pay off - the school is
said to have cultivated half of Japan's electronics technology.
Located in Sendai, a small city 350 km north of Tokyo, the university boasts a
full range of faculties, but its strength lies in science and engineering.
"Tohoku was established as a research institution," says president Abe Hiroyuki.
"This tradition continues on today." Abe and his team are not placing research
above basic learning. Rather, Tohoku believes a high standard of original work
is the necessary foundation of a first-class education.
Its 16,600 students, including some 800 from abroad, are encouraged to explore
new fields of study. And unlike other institutions which allow specialized
courses only in the third year, Tohoku students can take them in their first
year as a way to push academic performance. Given the school's technical
caliber, Tohoku master's degree holders are in demand among manufacturing and
high-tech companies. Past graduates include such industrial luminaries as
president Kawamoto Nobuhiko of Honda Motors. The school also promotes ties with
business to commercialize new technologies, and several university scientists
have gone on to found their own companies. "Tohoku students may not look like
it, but they are industrious and go at their own pace," says one sophomore.
- By Murakami Mutsuko
3. KYOTO UNIVERSITY
Established: 1897 Address: Yoshida-Honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501 Phone:
81-75-753-2015 Fax: 81-75-753-2094 Website: www.kyoto-u.ac.jp Est. annual living
and tuition expenses, foreign students: 1.9 million yen ($14,520)
Nagao Makoto is a man of science, an expert in electronic engineering - and
acutely conscious of the rapid pace at which the world is evolving. As the new
president of Kyoto University, he is determined that its graduates should be
able to roll with the punches that the future brings: "We should not be
overtaken by changes.'' Nagao believes this means arming students not only with
specialized knowledge but also with wisdom and sensitivity.
In pursuing that goal, Kyodai, as it is known, has an edge over many rivals. The
university, which marked its centennial last year, has long cultivated
initiative, tolerance and a spirit of independence. Those qualities are clearly
valued by former students such as Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's pro-democracy
heroine, and Taiwan president Lee Teng-hui (he studied agriculture, and Suu Kyi
spent nine months at its Center for Southeast Asian Studies).
At the same time, the university insists on academic excellence. Idealism is
welcome, but not woolly mindedness. Kyodai has a strong research presence -
there are 13 institutions dedicated to such fields as disaster prevention and
chest diseases. Besides the 10 faculties, scholars are offered graduate schools
in energy science and environmental studies. New to the list this year:
departments in information sciences and Asian-African studies. The wealth of
choices might explain why one in two students goes on to graduate school.
Indeed, Kyodai was voted the country's most admired university in a recent
survey by a Tokyo cram school.
Asahi Breweries chairman Higuchi Hirotaro is among the prominent leaders trained
at Kyodai. Many came through its law faculty, which accounts for about 10% of
the lawyers entering the Japanese bar each year. Economics and philosophy remain
the best known departments. Yet it is the sciences in which its four Nobel
laureates excelled (two prizes for physics and one each for chemistry and
medicine). To past president Imura Hiroo, that's creativity fostered in a
free-thinking environment.
- By Murakami Mutsuko
4. UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
Established: 1911 Address: Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong Phone: 852-2859-2111 Fax:
852-2858-2549 Website: www.hku.hk Est. annual living and tuition expenses,
foreign students: HK$105,000 ($13,550)
When the new academic year begins in September, students at the University of
Hong Kong will find a few changes. The curriculum has been overhauled to
encourage multi-disciplinary interests, and students will be carrying notebook
computers that can be linked to the university network through access points in
classrooms and lecture halls. The changes are all part of the plan by the SAR's
oldest university to become one of the leading institutions in China and beyond.
"People see us as a British university with a long history, but the curriculum
reform will make us more in line with the world," says vice chancellor Cheng
Yiu-chung. Under the new credit-based system, 20% of students' courses will be
taken outside their majors - in languages, for instance, or general education.
"Instead of just producing specialists or professionals, our graduates will be
more in touch with the real world," Cheng says. The plan to build a "digital
university" where everyone is online is also meant to prepare students for the
future. Those who have trouble buying a laptop will be eligible for subsidies.
In keeping with Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule, HKU had been building up
links with institutions in the mainland, and its efforts are bearing fruit.
Starting this year, it will run an MBA program in Shanghai jointly with Fudan
University. An academic exchange center has been set up with Tsinghua University
in Beijing. HKU officials also hope the new initiatives will enliven the
conservative institution. After decades as Hong Kong's top university, Cheng
admits it is easy to get complacent. Critics point especially to HKU's weakness
in research. Student union chairman Peter Tang shares that view. But he adds
that the professors are responsible and able, thanks in part to the watchful eye
of students who evaluate courses and rate staff.
- By Law Siu-lan
5. NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
Established: 1905 Address: 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260 Phone:
65-772-2539 Fax: 65-778-5281 Website: www.nus.sg Est. annual living and tuition
expenses, foreign students: S$14,250 ($8,382)
It may be among the region's top research universities, but the National
University of Singapore is not resting on its laurels. The campus is sprouting
research arms like an octopus though the student body is no longer growing at
double-digit rates. Among them: the Tropical Marine Science Institute, which
will tie up with the famed Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in the U.S., the
Kent Ridge Digital Labs for information technology and the Institute of
Materials Research and Engineering. The new organizations will add as many as
600 researchers to NUS's already formidable faculty, currently numbering 2,300.
The high-tech bent reflects Singapore as a whole. The Lion City is styling
itself as a digital society with a thriving technology industry. Hence, NUS
sports a new School of Computing, as well as a joint project with Stanford
University on digital signal processing. Also launched: a master's program in
electrical engineering in cooperation with the University of Illinois. NUS
faculty are earning notices. Professor Louis Chen was elected president of the
international Bernoulli Society for Mathematics, Statistics and Probability -
the first Asian ever to hold that post - while Tan Tin Wee has been honored for
his Internet research.
NUS's impressive 150-hectare campus, spread across a series of low hills in the
west of the island, is also home to respected engineering, law, and medical
schools (the university traces its roots to a medical college founded in 1905).
There is a fine tradition of the arts and humanities, and the university has a
host of distinguished alumni. Among them: Singapore premier Goh Chok Tong and
his Malaysian counterpart Mahathir Mohamad.
- By Andrea Hamilton
6. SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
Established: 1946 Address: San 56-1, Shillim-dong Kwanak-ku Phone: 82-2-880-8634
Fax: 82-2-880-8632 Website: www.snu.ac.kr Est. annual living and tuition
expenses, foreign students: 18.8 million won ($11,037)
Two-thirds of South Korea's top CEOs, legislators and professionals are alumni.
And though President Kim Dae Jung isn't a member of this exclusive club, half of
his cabinet is. Perhaps to an even greater degree than Tokyo U, a certificate
from Seoul National University is a sure passage to power, prestige and wealth.
But not if you are a woman. The old boys' network is truly that - for the boys.
Women make up a third of the graduates from South Korea's premier university.
But few have been able to break the gender barrier to reach top positions in
society, says bond trader Moon Hye Jung. Even though they are products of the
same school, "women are still discriminated against in society," she says.
Kwanak campus, on the outskirts of Seoul, is home to most of SNU's 16 colleges
and 71 research institutes as well as an invaluable collection of 18th-century
texts in the Gyujanggak archives. Medical studies are conducted at the Yongon
facilities in downtown Seoul, and veterinary sciences at its Suwon campus. Of
the 31,040 student population, 610 come from abroad. Half are Asians. The number
may rise as SNU is keen to improve its overseas links, especially in
Australasia. Cross-fertilization should prove beneficial. As it is, SNU may be
accused of being parochial: 95% of its 1,827 professors are alumni.
SNU's sheer dominance in national life can be a liability. "The current failure
in politics, business and finance should be blamed on the university," jokes one
professor. After all, its graduates were running the country. Hong Sung Tae,
associate dean of planning, says SNU is pushing for reforms. It has been
producing too many lawyers and bureaucrats, he explains. What Korea lacks are
experts in science and technology: "We must help our students become renowned
scientists, doctors and engineers." The university also wants to shift the
emphasis from basic education towards research. But SNU being a
government-managed institution, it may be a while before changes appear in the
system.
- By Laxmi Nakarmi
7. NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY
Established: 1928 Address: 1 Roosevelt Road, Section 4, Taipei Phone:
886-2-363-0231 Fax: 886-2-363-1877 Website: www.ntu.edu.tw Est. annual living
and tuition expenses, foreign students: NT$216,645 ($6,500)
When an elite institution is viewed as a bit of a dinosaur, it's a signal to
change with the times. National Taiwan University is taking big steps to stay
ahead. Foremost is external evaluation for all departments. University president
Chen Wei-jao describes this as "a mechanism for identifying strengths and
weaknesses." The process began this year with 20 departments and will be
extended throughout Taida, as Taiwan's top university is commonly known.
Assessment of staff, for teaching as well as research, is another move forward.
That's generally welcomed by classes fed up with indifferent lecturers. But many
of Taida's 24,000 students are also wary. Cheng Jur-shan, a graduate student in
pharmacology, complains: "They start to look at teaching skills when a faculty
member hasn't published enough quality research."
Taida is also trying to slough off its stuffy image through a plunge into
cyber-education. Websites have been set up for some 200 courses, allowing
students to exchange information and seek help from lecturers. Because teachers'
workload will be increased by being "on-call" to the electronic classroom,
participation is voluntary. Even so, says Chen, faculty members are
enthusiastic. The intrusion of commercial interest into university life has
prompted a new code of ethics for staff. Being stamped out: researchers'
practice of releasing early results to the media before subjecting their
findings to rigorous peer reviews. Sexual transgressions are another target.
Administrators are surely mindful of embarrassing revelations about an alleged
affair between a research student and her supervisor (who happened to be the
heir of Formosa Plastics tycoon Wang Yung-ching).
To relieve crowding at its Taipei campus, the university plans to shift the
College of Electrical Engineering to Hsinchu. More significantly, planners hope
the move will build synergy with a nearby science park which is the heart of
Taiwan's semiconductor industry. But the biggest practical headache for Chen is
money. Government subsidies once allowed Taida to offer cheap education. That
funding was recently slashed by 25% to correct what some view as unfair
advantage being given public universities over private ones. Now, Chen has to
come up with the difference.
- By Laurence Eyton
8.CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
Established: 1963 Address: Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong Phone:
852-2609-7000 Fax: 852-2603-6197 Website: www.cuhk.edu.hk Est. annual living and
tuition expenses, foreign students: HK$95,000 ($12,260)
It has always played up the "Chinese" in its name. So after Beijing resumed
sovereignty over Hong Kong, Chinese University lost no time in organizing the
China Career Development Award Program. Students sign up for a four-week course
on the mainland's social, political and economic systems and a six-week
internship in Beijing or other centers. "We get a better understanding of the
working environment in different mainland cities," says Kenneth Kwok Ka-chuen,
president of the student union. "The university sees China as a big employment
market for Hong Kong graduates." Chinese U now has some 200 faculty members and
student groups specializing on the mainland.
In the cramped SAR, the university has the luxury of a 134-hectare campus that
boasts an art museum and a tree-lined shopping mall. A five-storey lab complex
for cancer and immunology studies opened in January. Also new: a Bioinformatics
Center with high-performance computers to boost the mapping of genes, a joint
project with the China National Center for Biotechnology Development.
Departments of opthalmology and automation engineering have also been
established.
The university provides education steeped in Chinese culture but leavened by
Western traditions. That means Cantonese courses on Chinese history - and
English-language programs in medicine and business. "We give equal emphasis to
both languages," says vice chancellor Arthur Li. And for all their enthusiasm
for China, officials insist the university will maintain academic independence.
"We have resisted interference from patrons," says Li.
- By Peggy Leung Tin-yan
9. UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
Established: 1853 Address: Parkville, Victoria 3052 Phone: 61-3-9344-4597 Fax:
61-3-9347-0681 Website: www.unimelb.edu.au Est. annual living and tuition
expenses, foreign students: A$31,500 ($20,480)
In 1997, Malaysian Cheah Lean Peng became the first foreign medical student to
graduate at the top of his class since the University of Melbourne was founded
45 years ago. This year, ethnic Vietnamese Phuong Pham, another would-be
physician, won a Rhodes scholarship. "In many ways," says Alan Gilbert, the
Australian school's vice chancellor, "a good university is about being
international in links and aspirations." All built, of course, on a sound
academic base. Melbourne has developed a vaccine against equine herpes viruses,
a hydrogen-powered car and a semi-submersible survey ship. The university also
excels in the arts. Its Victorian College of the Arts is a premier training
facility, and the Melbourne Theatre Company is a major cultural contributor.
More than 3,000 foreigners - 9% of the total student population - are currently
enrolled in Melbourne U. Many come from Asia. The university recently opened an
Institute of Asian Languages and Societies. In response to the region's economic
crisis, it has introduced a range of fee options, including deferred payments.
Then there are the 700-plus scholarships it awards annually. Valued at $9,750
per year for up to four years, the grants are open to all. Melbourne has room
for other Cheah Lean Pengs and Phuong Phams.
- By Ian Jarrett
10. UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Established: 1949 Address: Sydney 2052 Phone: 61-2-9385-2700 Fax: 61-2-9385-8008
Website: www.unsw.edu.au Est. annual living and tuition expenses, foreign
students: A$27,000 ($17,555)
Skeptics might say that the only thing Australia has in common with Asia is that
both begin with the letter A. Those who do within Paul Keating's hearing would
probably get an earful from the combative former prime minister. "Asia is not a
flavor of the month," he says. Keating, a visiting professor at the University
of New South Wales, is beating the drum for better Australian ties with its
northern neighbors. Not that he was the first. UNSW has been linked to modern
Asia since the 1950s when it received its first foreign students under the
Colombo Plan, a scheme to aid developing countries in the region.
Help is all the more crucial as the economic meltdown bites into Asia. UNSW's
swift response buffered what could have been a major dent in its
overseas-student numbers, 70% of which are from the region. There are currently
about 4,500 foreign scholars - 16% of the total enrollment. Private students can
now pay fees in installments. Hard-hit governments have been offered special
schemes to keep training programs going. "If the students had been forced to
pull out, their research would have suffered. Benefits to their countries would
have been lost," says Jennie Lang of the UNSW international office.
For the past eight years, the school has led research in Australia (its
scientists, for example, can take credit for the world's most efficient solar
cell). And Asians figure in many projects - UNSW has more international research
students than any college in the country. At the undergraduate level, faculties
such as medicine and engineering are toughest to get into, and not just because
they offer professional qualifications. Its law course is "one of the most
appealing educational programs on offer," comments The Good Universities Guide.
Even so, officials report a leveling off of scholars from South Korea and
Malaysia. But Australia won't face a swelling exodus of overseas students,
predicts economist Ainsley Jolley. Despite regional belt-tightening, she says,
the earnings premium for graduates will help maintain numbers.