The rankings are by the Universitas 21 network or research universities and were compiled by researchers at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne.
They looked at the most recent data from 48 countries and territories, taking into account 20 measurements, including investment by government and the private sector.
Of Asian countries, Singapore is the highest ranked at No .11. Hong Kong is 18th, Japan is 20th, Taiwan is 21st and South Korea is 22nd.
Thailand is in a recent ranking No. 41 of universities in 48 countries.
While Thailand is ahead of 7 other countries, including India and Indonesia, it lags behind China and Malaysia when it comes to the quality of higher education. China is at No. 39 while Malaysia is in 36th place.
