In the latest rankings, NUS held firm at 8th place globally, while NTU rose to 12th. Together, the two outranked Ivy League institutions in the United States, such as the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and Cornell University, and China’s powerhouse Peking University.
Vietnamese student Nguyễn Kỳ Minh, a 19-year-old global studies and communications and new media major at NUS, said that back home, “everyone knows about NUS” and sees Singapore as a top study destination.
Beyond the rankings, it was affordability, academic rigour and opportunities for exchange that won him over.
“At the end of the day, it (all comes down to) graduating with an NUS degree. A lot of employers, especially internationally and in Vietnam, look at that and say, ‘That’s something, isn’t it?’”
Even younger autonomous universities in Singapore, such as the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), have attracted international attention.
Ms Yanata Sulaiman, 24, from Indonesia, recently graduated with a Master of Management with a specialisation in digital marketing from SUSS.
While her family was initially more familiar with NUS, NTU and the Singapore Management University (SMU), Ms Yanata said SUSS was attractive because it allowed her to specialise in two areas in a year-long programme.
“Singapore was one of the countries I wanted to study in. It feels close, not just in terms of distance, but in culture too. It’s very international, so I can get an international experience here also,” she said.
As for Singaporean students, while tuition subsidies and the institutions’ global standing have long made local universities an attractive option for them, some told CNA TODAY that their decision to stay put has been further cemented by shifting global tides.
Traditional destinations such as the United States, United Kingdom and Australia are increasingly being reassessed due to stricter immigration policies and mounting geopolitical uncertainty.
Australia, historically a magnet for Singaporean and Southeast Asian students, had last year mooted international student caps which would involve allocating a quota for each higher education institution for 2025. Universities in the UK, meanwhile, have been facing a funding crisis, with many struggling with rising costs amid a drop in international students.
Though studying in the US once appealed to 18-year-old junior college student Anjaneya Sharma, he said the allure of top-tier universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard has faded due to the current political climate.
“Initially, I was considering US universities. Now I’m not even going to apply there. I’m considering NUS, NTU, because the situation (in the US) is very chaotic,” he said.
In the US, President Donald Trump has sought to prevent Harvard from hosting international students, a move made amid higher education funding cuts and immigration crackdowns affecting American universities.
Singaporeans now studying at Harvard are being offered the possibility of returning to local universities amid all this flux. But are local educational offerings attractive enough for Singaporeans seeking “world-class” opportunities elsewhere?
A Harvard undergraduate who only wanted to be known as Ryan, a Singaporean in his 20s, would still prefer to remain at the university if possible.
He declined to have his real name published as he did not want to compromise future visa applications to the US.
“The general sentiment is that local universities won’t be an exact replacement because the classes and academic systems aren’t the same. For graduate students doing research, they might not be able to just transplant their research over, like if they’re working with a lab,” said Mr Ryan.
As international headwinds buffet long-established higher education destinations and Singapore’s universities edge closer to the top tier in global standings, CNA TODAY examines whether the gap between Singapore’s institutions of higher learning and the likes of Harvard or Oxford has narrowed over the years.
SINGAPORE ON THE GLOBAL STAGE
In the early 2000s, Singapore launched its “global schoolhouse” vision, an initiative to transform the country into a leading tertiary education hub by attracting world-class institutions and students to its shores.
Before that, in 1996, then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong also announced plans to turn Singapore into the “Boston of the East”, referencing the city that boasts famous names such as Harvard University and MIT.
Two decades on, while some Western universities continue to be perceived as globally prestigious, Singapore’s local institutions are increasingly distinguishing themselves in global rankings — and drawing the attention of students far beyond its borders.
The latest QS World University Rankings for 2026 featured over 1,500 universities from 106 countries and territories. Among Singapore’s four ranked universities:
● NUS maintained its position as 8th in the world
● NTU climbed three places to 12th
● SMU jumped to 511st from its previous position at 585th
● Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) dropped to 519th from 440th in last year’s ranking
The remaining two autonomous universities, the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and SUSS are not currently ranked in QS.
