According to figures released July 30 by Webometrics’ Ranking Web of World Universities, Tamkang is now the 272nd ranked university in the world – up 13 places from its ranking of 285 earlier this year. Locally, TKU’s ranking moved up one place, to 9th. In terms of private universities in Taiwan, Tamkang again took top spot, and was the only Taiwanese private university to be ranked among the world’s top 300.

The criteria on which these studies are based include internet ‘size’ (meaning the proportion of internet space taken up), ‘visibility’ (the amount of related links and key words), ‘rich files’ (the number of published scholarly files), and ‘scholar’ (the number of views received for published articles in Google Scholar). In the ‘size’ category of the recent results, Tamkang skyrocketed from 177th to 86th place, making a debut appearance in the top 100.

The TKU Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Gwo-hsin Yu, stated that Tamkang’s success in the rankings reflected the concerted efforts of each TKU department in developing and updating the content and format of department websites. He acknowledged, however, that TKU had lost ground in the ‘scholar’ category. “Falling back in the rankings serves as a kind of warning. The ‘scholar’ category is a core aspect of any academic institution”, he commented.

The Dean of Information Services, Hwang Ming-dar, said that TKU, through setting up a unified website format for each department and providing each department with technical support, has managed to greatly enhance its website content. He hopes that in the next several years Tamkang’s ranking will further ascend and that TKU will ultimately “find its place among the top five universities in Taiwan!”