VNU in group 251-300 of Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2021

Besides Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU), two other Vietnamese higher education institutions are also present in THE Asia Rankings 2021: Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST) ranked in the 351-400 group, and Ho Chi Minh City National University (VNU-HCM) in the 401+ group.

Continuing to maintain its leading position in Vietnam for the second year participating in THE's Asian university rankings in 2021, with the highest total score among the three Vietnamese higher education institutions (26.9–29.6), VNU also has the highest score in 4/5 ranking criteria (Teaching, Research, Citations and International Outlook), while VNU-HCM has the highest score in the Income from Knowledge and Technology Transfer criterion.

Continuing to maintain its leading position in Vietnam for the second year participating in THE's Asian university rankings in 2021, with the highest total score among the three Vietnamese higher education institutions (26.9–29.6), VNU also has the highest score in 4/5 ranking criteria (Teaching, Research, Citations and International Outlook), while VNU-HCM has the highest score in the Income from Knowledge and Technology Transfer criterion.

Compared to the 2020 rankings, VNU increased its scores in all THE Asia rankings criteria. Of which, the strongest increase was in the Citations criterion (8%), followed by the Research criterion (up 7.4%), the remaining 3 criteria Teaching, Income from knowledge and technology transfer and International Outlook increased slightly by 1.6%, 1.6% and 0.6% respectively.

To conduct and publish the 2021 Asia University Rankings, Times Higher Education used a set of criteria including 13 indicators in 5 groups: Teaching (30%), Research (30%), Citation Index (30%), Knowledge and Technology Transfer Income (7.5%) and International Outlook (7.5%). With such an assessment, higher education institutions that are not research universities or are not strong in research are unlikely to be included in this Ranking.

In 2021, there were 551 educational institutions in 30 countries/territories in Asia ranked by THE, while in 2020 there were only 500 schools, of which Vietnam continued to have three educational institutions in this ranking.

In the 2021 ranking results, the top 5 universities are Tsinghua University (China), 2nd is Peking University (Peking - China), 3rd is National University of Singapore, 4th is Hong Kong University as in the 2020 ranking results, 5th is Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (6th in 2020 and replacing Hong Kong University of Technology and Engineering).

In Southeast Asian countries, Singapore has 2 universities participating in the ranking but both are in the top positions of the rankings, National University of Singapore ranked 3rd and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore ranked 5th. Thailand has 17 universities in the THE Asia Rankings 2021 (up 1 compared to 2020); Mahidol University is still the top in Thailand with 130th place in Asia (122 in 2020). Malaysia also has 2 more universities ranked this year, bringing the total to 15 universities, of which the University of Malaya is the top in Malaysia with 49th place in Asia (43 in 2020), Indonesia has 9 universities ranked this year (up 3 compared to 2020). The Philippines has 2 universities participating in the ranking, of which the University of the Philippines is the top in the Philippines and 84th in Asia (65 in 2020).

Previously, in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021, VNU was in the 801-1000 group in the world. At the same time, in 3 consecutive rankings (2019 - 2021) of the QS World University Rankings, VNU has continuously maintained the 801-1000 position. In addition, VNU also ranked 101-150 for the first time in the QS Top 50 Under 50 Rankings 2021. In terms of rankings by field, VNU currently has 5 fields ranked by QS, which are Computer Science and Information Systems (ranked 601-650 in the world), Mechanical Engineering, Aeronautics and Manufacturing (451-500), Mathematics (401-450), Physics and Astronomy (501-550), Business and Management Studies (501-550). In the THE Rankings, the fields of VNU ranked include: Computer Science (501-600 in the world), Physical Sciences (601-800), Engineering & Technology (401-500).