News

In the latest Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2025, released today, Walailak University has retained its global position at 1201-1500 and ranked sixth place in Thailand, the same as the previous year. However, the university's score in one of the five key pillars - Research Quality - has jumped from 35.5 in the 2024 edition to 51.7 in 2025. This improvement places the university among the top 5 nationally for research quality, highlighting its research excellence and growing recognition within the global scholarly community.

The 2025 THE World University Rankings include 2,092 research-intensive universities from 115 countries. Of these, 20 universities from Thailand were included in the rankings. The number of eligible universities globally ranked in the 2025 edition has increased compared to last year’s edition, which included 1,907 universities from 108 countries - 19 of which were from Thailand.

The THE rankings 2025 use 18 well-calibrated indicators grouped into five pillars: Teaching (29.5%), Research Environment (29%), Research Quality (30%), Industry (4%), and International Outlook (7.5%) to assess universities. The details are shown in the figure below.

Source: World University Rankings 2025: methodology | Times Higher Education (THE)

In the global rankings, the University of Oxford has topped the chart for nine consecutive years, followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology in second place and Harvard University in third.

In Thailand, Chulalongkorn University ranked first (601-800 worldwide), followed by Mahidol University (also 601-800 worldwide), and King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, which ranked third (801-1000 worldwide).

However, when focusing solely on Research Quality - the pillar with the highest weight - Walailak University ranks behind only four other Thai institutions. These include King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi with a score of 58, King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok with 55.8, Maejo University with 53.4, and Chulalongkorn University with a score of 53.0

The scores the university received in other pillars this year are as follows: Teaching, 20.3; Research Environment, 14.6; Industry, 17.7; and International Outlook, 43.6.

When further analyzing all 18 indicators, Walailak University’s top three performances were in citation impact, which indicates the extent to which the university’s research is used by other scholars to expand knowledge; international co-authorship, which reflects collaboration with international researchers to address global challenges; and student-to-staff ratio, which demonstrates proportion between the total number of staff employed and the number of students across all years and programs.



Walailak University's Scores Across 18 Indicators Within the Five Pillars

Walailak University, categorized as a Global and Frontier Research University by Thailand’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation (MHESI), has continued to achieve several milestones that reflect its commitment to world-class research and quality education. Earlier this year, the university received the Outstanding Award for Internationally High-Caliber Research from Thailand's MHESI and currently holds the highest ratio of research publications in Scopus-indexed Q1 and Q2 journals in the nation. The university also has the highest number of professional teachers among Thai institutions, with over 700 teachers certified by Advance HE based on the United Kingdom Professional Standards Framework, ensuring that students are well-equipped with the skills needed to thrive in the 21st century. In addition, Walailak University’s effort in advancing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals has resulted in its achievement at 101-200 worldwide in THE Impact Rankings 2024. The university was placed third globally for Stewardship and fourth globally for Outreach in promoting sustainability, according to scores in THE Impact Rankings 2024 Report, Pages 16-18.

Visit the full results of the THE World University Rankings 2025 here.