Discover the top 10 universities in Asia for social sciences & management, as rated by academics. This list is based on QS’s global survey of academics, one part of the information used in creating the QS University Rankings: Asia.
1. National University of Singapore (NUS)
Social sciences & management are clearly very strong areas for Singapore’s flagship university, the National University of Singapore. As well we being Asia’s highest rated in this field according to data from QS’s global survey of academics, NUS also ranks among the world’s best for social sciences and management subjects, in the latest QS World University Rankings by Subject.
2. University of Tokyo
Overall, the University of Tokyo has the strongest academic reputation in Asia – of the five subject areas covered, this is the only one for which it doesn’t get the region’s top rating (and second place certainly isn’t bad). Overall, it ranks 9th in this year’s QS University Rankings: Asia, which are based on the results of the academic reputation survey, and an additional eight indicators.
3. University of Hong Kong (HKU)
Ranking 2= (joint with NUS) in the overall QS University Rankings: Asia, the University of Hong Kong (like NUS) appears to be best known for excellence in the social sciences and management. This is its highest rated subject area according to surveyed academics. That said, it has a strong reputation across all the subjects, and is also rated among Asia’s top 10 universities for arts and humanities, life sciences & medicine, and natural sciences.
4. Peking University
Peking University similarly has a very strong reputation across all the subject areas, and in fact comes out third overall for academic reputation (behind the University of Tokyo and National University of Singapore). It also ranks well internationally for many social science subjects – in the latest QS World University Rankings by Subject, it’s within the world’s top 50 for politics, law, statistics, economics and accounting.
5. Seoul National University (SNU)
South Korea’s highest ranking university, Seoul National University is currently ranked fourth overall in the QS University Rankings: Asia. Social sciences and management is the subject area in which SNU is highest rated by surveyed academics – but it’s rated within Asia’s top 10 universities for all five of the subject areas considered.
6. Kyoto University
In the overall QS University Rankings: Asia, Kyoto University is currently 10=, sharing this spot with Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. Like fellow Japanese institution, the University of Tokyo, it has a very strong academic reputation – coming out 4th overall in Asia according to QS’s global survey of academics.
7. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is in fact ranked number one in Asia overall, according to the latest QS University Rankings: Asia. This is due to its consistent high performance across all nine of the indicators used to create this ranking, of which academic reputation is one.
8. The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)
With a third Hong Kong university making this top 10, the city-state certainly has a strong selection of universities for those interested in social sciences and management. The Chinese University of Hong Kong ranks 9th overall in this year’s QS University Rankings: Asia.
9. Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University is currently ranked 14th overall in the QS University Rankings: Asia (one position higher than in 2012). It has a strong reputation among surveyed academics across all subject areas – but an even stronger reputation among employers. In QS’s global survey of graduate employers, Tsinghua is currently rated Asia’s second best university, behind NUS.
10. Nanyang Technological University
Finally, another Singaporean university closes the top 10. Like Tsinghua, Nanyang Technological University has an even stronger rating among employers than academics – it’s currently rated 6th in Asia by employers. Overall, NTU comes out at 10= in the overall QS University Rankings: Asia, having made an impressive climb from 17th position in 2012.
Top 50 Universities in Asia for Social Sciences & Management
| 2013 rank | Institution name | Country/territory |
| 1 | National University of Singapore (NUS) | Singapore |
| 2 | The University of Tokyo | Japan |
| 3 | University of Hong Kong (HKU) | Hong Kong |
| 4 | Peking University | China |
| 5 | Seoul National University (SNU) | South Korea |
| 6 | Kyoto University | Japan |
| 7 | The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) | Hong Kong |
| 8 | The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) | Hong Kong |
| 9 | Tsinghua University | China |
| 10 | Nanyang Technological University (NTU) | Singapore |
| 11 | Fudan University | China |
| 12 | National Taiwan University (NTU) | Taiwan |
| 13 | Waseda University | Japan |
| 14 | Yonsei University | South Korea |
| 15 | Korea University | South Korea |
| 16 | Keio University | Japan |
| 17 | City University of Hong Kong (CUHK) | Hong Kong |
| 18 | Chulalongkorn University | Thailand |
| 19 | Osaka University | Japan |
| 20 | Hitotsubashi University | Japan |
| 21 | Beijing Normal University | China |
| 22 | Shanghai Jiao Tong University | China |
| 23 | Renmin (People’s) University of China | China |
| 24 | The Hong Kong Polytechnic University | Hong Kong |
| 25 | Sungkyunkwan University | South Korea |
| 26 | University of Indonesia | Indonesia |
| 27 | Nanjing University | China |
| 28 | KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology | South Korea |
| 29 | Thammasat University | Thailand |
| 30 | University of Delhi | India |
| 31 | University of the Philippines | Philippines |
| 32 | Universiti Malaya (UM) | Malaysia |
| 33 | National Chengchi University | Taiwan |
| 34 | Universitas Gadjah Mada | Indonesia |
| 35 | Zhejiang University | China |
| 36 | Kobe University | Japan |
| 37 | Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) | Malaysia |
| 38 | Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) | Malaysia |
| 39 | University of Tsukuba | Japan |
| 40 | Ateneo de Manila University | Philippines |
| 41 | Dongguk University | South Korea |
| 42 | Sogang University | South Korea |
| 43 | Tohoku University | Japan |
| 44 | Nagoya University | Japan |
| 45 | Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) | Hong Kong |
| 46 | Kyung Hee University | South Korea |
| 47 | Xiamen University | China |
| 48 | Ewha Womans University | South Korea |
| 49 | Mahidol University | Thailand |
| 50 | Wuhan University | China |
About the QS University Rankings: Asia
Published annually since 2009, the QS University Rankings: Asia ranks the top 300 universities in Asia. The ranking is based on nine indicators: academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, research papers per faculty member, citations per paper, international diversity of faculty, international diversity of students, inbound student exchange and outbound student exchange.
