QS and THE University Rankings: Why are Vietnamese university rankings so different?

Currently, the rankings of Vietnamese universities in the world university rankings have a huge difference. Why are the same university ranked differently?

Vietnam aims to have at least 3-5 elite universities of international standard by 2030, with at least 8 schools in the top 200 universities in Asia in the world university rankings. In photo: Students of Ho Chi Minh City National University - Photo: TRAN HUYNH

The two world university ranking organizations, THE and QS, have recently announced their 2026 rankings, including Vietnamese schools. However, the rankings of Vietnamese schools differ greatly between the two rankings.

High in this table, low in that table

Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has just announced the results of the Asian university rankings - QS World University Rankings - Asia 2026, including 25 Vietnamese schools (an increase of 8 schools compared to the previous ranking), the most ever.

This year, among Vietnamese universities listed in the QS Asia 2026 rankings, Hanoi National University leads at 158th place, up three places from last year. Duy Tan University is ranked second at 165th, down 38 places. Following are Ho Chi Minh City National University and Ton Duc Thang University, at 175th and 231st places, respectively.

Van Lang University made the strongest progress this year, rising 240 places, from group 491-500 to position 251, top 5 in Vietnam, in this ranking.

Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics is ranked 318th, 8th among Vietnamese universities listed in the QS Asia 2026 rankings.

Comparison of the rankings of 25 Vietnamese universities in 2026 compared to 2025 in the QS Asian University Rankings - Graphics: TRAN HUYNH

Meanwhile, previously (October 2025), Times Higher Education (THE) announced the rankings of the world's best universities in 2026 with 11 Vietnamese universities on the list, the most ever.

In the 2026 THE rankings, Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics continues to hold the highest position, ranked in the global 501-600 group (equivalent to last year's ranking).

Following are Duy Tan University and Ton Duc Thang University in the 601-800 group (same ranking as last year) and Hanoi Medical University in fourth place, maintaining its position in the 801-1000 group.

Nguyen Tat Thanh University, which appeared in the THE rankings for the first time, in the 1001-1200 group, has entered the top 5 of the list of Vietnamese schools named in this ranking. Ho Chi Minh City Open University and Hanoi National University are in the 1201-1500 group.

Thus, comparing the two university rankings QS and THE this year, it can be seen that the rankings of Vietnamese universities have a huge difference.

Rankings of Vietnamese universities in THE 2026 rankings - Graphics: TRAN HUYNH

Why the difference in rankings between the two university rankings?

The difference between Vietnamese university rankings in THE and QS rankings comes from the difference in criteria, weights and evaluation methods of these two tables.

QS Asia 2026 continues to apply 4 groups of standards with 11 evaluation criteria. Among the criteria, academic reputation has the largest weight - 30%, followed by the number of citations (20%). The remaining criteria are school reputation, faculty/student ratio, internationality, international research network, employment outcomes and sustainability, accounting for about 5-15%.

QS's primary focus is on brand recognition and student employability, with an emphasis on international reputation and networking. QS is more about international reputation and student attraction, reflecting brand recognition rather than research performance.

While THE's world university rankings measure research-intensive universities across all core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

THE 2026 rankings are based on 18 key indicators, divided into five main criteria groups: teaching quality (29.5%), research environment (29%), research quality (30%), international outlook (7.5%) and technology transfer (4%).

THE comprehensively evaluates the academic and research quality of universities, with particular emphasis on scientific research and citations. THE focuses on the quality and impact of scientific research (requiring many international publications and high citations).

In addition, each ranking uses different data sources and scoring methods. THE usually relies on data provided by the school and data from Scopus. QS combines survey data and quantitative indicators.

TRAN HUYNH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/xep-hang-dai-hoc-qs-va-the-vi-sao-thu-hang-dai-hoc-viet-nam-venh-nhau-20251111112138383.htm