QS Asia 2026 Rankings: UEH Maintains its Position in the Top 301+ Best Universities in Asia

05 Nov, 2025

On November 4, 2025, the prestigious global university ranking organization Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) released the QS Asia University Rankings 2026. According to this year's results, the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) has risen to the 318th position, maintaining its standing in the Top 301+ best universities in Asia. This continues to affirm its position as a key multidisciplinary research university in Vietnam and one of the fastest-improving universities in the region.

According to the QS Asia University Rankings 2026, the number of ranked higher education institutions in Asia has significantly increased to 1,526, compared to 984 in the 2025 rankings. In Vietnam alone, 25 universities were ranked, with 8 appearing for the first time, indicating rapid expansion and increasingly fierce competition in the region.

This increase in scale occurred as QS collected and analyzed a massive volume of data, including 19.8 million scientific papers, 200 million citations, 1.5 million academic evaluations, and over 520,000 responses from global employers.

Against this backdrop, the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City's continued success in maintaining its 318th position in Asia, within the 301+ group, is a testament to the resilience and stable standing of a Vietnamese university in the regional academic ecosystem.

According to a detailed report from QS, UEH recorded remarkable improvements in several key indicators, particularly in research, internationalization, employer relations, and academic reputation—the three pillars with the highest weighting in the QS Asia methodology. Specifically:

Employer Reputation: Rose by 85 places to 203rd, reflecting the regional labor market's recognition of the quality of UEH graduates.
Citations per Paper: UEH ranked 5th in Asia, an 8-place improvement from 2025, demonstrating the quality and academic impact of its research.
International Faculty Ratio: Rose by 6 places from 2025 to 146th, showcasing UEH's global academic appeal and its increasingly effective strategy for attracting international experts.
International Research Network: Maintained its position in the Top 322, indicating continuous expansion of cross-border collaborations, especially in economics, management, finance, and sustainable development.
Academic Reputation: Remained stable in the 401+ group, benefiting from the synergistic effect of its global rankings (Top 136 in THE Asia 2025; Top 501–600 in THE WUR 2026), academic cooperation projects, and international joint training programs.

Notably, UEH achieved a perfect score (100) for the Citations per Paper indicator, highlighting the powerful academic impact and widespread influence of the research conducted by its faculty and scientists. This result affirms the quality of research and UEH's well-directed investment strategy in developing its staff and promoting international publications, while also enhancing its academic prestige and standing in international rankings and the Vietnamese higher education system.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Quang Hung – UEH Executive Vice President, shared: “UEH's continued rise in the QS Asia 2026 rankings is not just the result of one year's effort but the culmination of a long-term and sustainable development strategy. UEH views international rankings as a tool for quality governance, helping us measure our actual capabilities and guide innovation in training, research, internationalization, and community service. This achievement motivates us to integrate more deeply into the global academic network and realize our goal of maintaining a position in the Top 250 in Asia by 2030 and the Top 100 in Asia by 2045.”

To realize this vision, UEH is implementing nine key strategic projects:

"Elevating the Quality of UEH's Team - Top 250 Asia" Project;
"Building an International Academic Ecosystem at UEH" Project;
"Strengthening Scientific Research Capacity, International Publications, Technology Transfer, and Product Commercialization" Project;
"Training High-Quality, Internationalized, Practice-Oriented, Multidisciplinary, Digitally Transformed, and Sustainable Human Resources at UEH" Project;
"UEH City University Hub" Project;
"Developing a Startup and Innovation Ecosystem at UEH to Become a Core Hub Connecting the Vietnamese and Asian Startup Communities" Project;
"Modernizing Technical Infrastructure and Facilities, Effective Governance, and Sustainable Finance" Project;
"Happy University" Project;
"UEH Digital Transformation 360" Project.

These are the fundamental drivers for UEH to advance further towards the standard of a multidisciplinary, sustainable, and global research university.

UEH's success in the QS Asia 2026 rankings not only affirms the internal strength of a Vietnamese university but also demonstrates the profound integration of Vietnamese higher education into the regional landscape. With these steps forward, UEH is helping to shape the image of a confident, innovative, and knowledge-leading Vietnamese university, ready to partner with Asia on its journey of sustainable development.

An Impressive Ranking Journey

From the Top 601+ to the Top 301+

In just six years (2021–2026), the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City has experienced a rapid and sustainable ascent in the QS Asia University Rankings, a testament to its international integration capabilities and well-aligned development strategy.

In 2020, UEH first appeared in the Top 601+ in Asia (QS Asia 2021), becoming the first and only economics-focused university in Vietnam to be included in this prestigious ranking—a milestone that defined its academic brand.
In 2021, UEH continued to rise to the Top 551+ (QS Asia 2022), joining the group of 10 ranked Vietnamese universities.
In 2022, the university surged by 150 places to enter the Top 401+ (QS Asia 2023), achieving its 2020–2030 strategic goal ahead of schedule on its path to becoming a Multidisciplinary and Sustainable University.
In 2023, UEH continued its breakthrough, ranking 301st out of 857 regional institutions (QS Asia 2024) and 6th in Vietnam, thanks to outstanding improvements in citations, international research network, employer reputation, and academic reputation.
In 2024, UEH was ranked 369th out of 984 institutions (QS Asia 2025), maintaining stability in its key indicators.
By 2025, UEH has risen to the 318th position out of 1,526 institutions (QS Asia 2026), remaining in the Top 301+ best universities in Asia and outperforming over 79% of the region's institutions, affirming its leading position among Vietnamese universities in the fields of economics, management, and social sciences.

From an application-oriented economics university, UEH has progressively advanced into the group of regionally influential multidisciplinary research universities, with a ranking improvement rate that is among the fastest in Vietnam and Asia. This result reflects the strategy of integration, internationalization, governance innovation, and sustainable development that UEH has steadfastly pursued over the past decade.

News, photos: Department of Communications and Partnerships