Japan University Rankings 2023

The Times Higher Education Japan University Rankings 2023 are designed to answer the questions that matter most to students and their families when making one of the most important decisions of their lives – who to trust with their education.

The methodology includes 16 performance indicators, with three of the metrics drawing on the THE Japan Student Survey.

View the Japan University Rankings 2023 methodology

The ranking is led by Tohoku University for the fourth consecutive year, while International Christian University enters the top 10 for the first time (at number 10).  

Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) now tops the resources pillar, pushing the University of Tokyo down to number two.

Kyoto University tops the outcomes pillar again, while International Christian University leads on engagement, and Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) is the pacemaker for environment.

The 2023 ranking includes 271 universities. Pillar scores are provided only when the university is in the top 200 for that pillar, and those ranked between 150 and 200 are given a banded score.

The metric on international exchange programmes uses scores from the 2021 ranking because of the instability caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, as explained here.

Read our analysis of the Japan University Rankings 2023 results

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