But Asia's founts of knowledge are a long way from running dry. Witness the May 4 centenary celebrations of Peking University, itself no stranger to budget cutbacks, ideological fights, and yes, campus violence. Ewha Woman's University is even older - it was established in 1886. University of Indonesia turned 48 in February. University of Dhaka is 77. "We are here to serve and protect the monarchy and the people," says Thienchay Kiranandana, president of Chulalongkorn University. "We start from the brain, the origin of thinking. We will endure." A hotbed of student activism in the 1970s, Thailand's oldest school was founded in 1916 by King Rama V. Farmers, merchants, monks and school children contributed 980,000 baht to start its first endowment fund.

To be sure, short-term turbulence affects schools. That is clear in this year's Asiaweek survey of the region's best universities. The depreciation of Southeast Asia's currencies helped push its institutions way down in the list. University of Malaya, for example, dropped from 11th place in 1997 to No. 33 this year. In purchasing-power parity (PPP) dollars, its total spending was slashed 33% - $140.8 million versus $209.4 million. The Malaysian ringgit fell by roughly the same percentage against the U.S. dollar from May 1997 to May 1998. For the survey, we converted local currencies into greenbacks, then calculated their equivalent in PPP. Purchasing-power parity takes into account price differences in each country, making financial figures of different universities comparable.

 This year, we have a bigger universe. In our inaugural listing, we sent questionnaires to 78 schools. This time, 95 multi-disciplinary universities were nominated. In addition, we requested information from 41 science and technology institutes. (We decided to have two lists to avoid comparing apples with oranges - specialized schools have a narrower focus and typically accept fewer students than broad-spectrum institutions.) And strong universities that declined to participate or sent inadequate information in 1997 signed up this year, among them Japan's Tohoku University, Taiwan's National Chiao Tung University and Seoul National University. Many of the new entrants rated higher than ASEAN schools in almost all attributes.

 Finally, we dropped value-for-money as a variable and replaced it with research output. The proposal won unanimous approval from presidents and vice chancellors we consulted, who said the amount of money students pay does not really have an impact on a university's academic excellence. Its research programs do. Unfortunately, expanding the frontiers of knowledge does not seem to be a priority of most Southeast Asian universities. One of our seven research attributes is the amount of money set aside for research. But, as another factor, we also derived the ratio of research articles published in local and international journals to the total number of faculty. Here again, Southeast Asian universities generally did not shine.

 As in the last survey, we asked the nominated universities to rate their peers on a five-point scale, with 5 ("world-class") as the highest grade. The total score was divided by the number of schools that gave ratings - not everyone wanted to pass judgement. This subjective measurement of reputation was given a weighting of 20% (1997: 30%) in the final scoring. Student selectivity, measured among other things by the ratio of accepted students to the number of applicants, was worth 25%, up from 20% in 1997. Financial resources accounted for 10% (15% last year) while faculty resources retained a 25% weighting. The new attribute, research output, made up the remaining 20% of the final grade.

 Predictably, the top 10 places in the multi-disciplinary list went to universities from the rich economies of Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia. (Peking University, No. 7 last year, was told by the Ministry of Education not to participate this time because some Taiwan schools in our list have the designation "national" in their names.) Still No. 1: University of Tokyo, which was awarded a "5" in academic reputation by nearly all of its peers. It also excels in research output - its teachers, on average, publish two research articles in international periodicals a year. We tracked this achievement through the Journal Citation Index, which monitors university publications in science and engineering, social sciences and the humanities.

The first-ranked specialized school, South Korea's Pohang University of Science and Technology, also comes from an advanced economy. But the next two slots went to the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and its sister university in Madras. Also in the top 10: China's Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and Pakistan's Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering. That is proof that developing countries can build world-class universities if they put their minds to it. Cynics may say these schools were formed primarily to serve their country's defense industries. But while graduates may end up in nuclear-weapons programs, the schools themselves are not closed to outsiders. They hire foreign teachers, accept foreign students and publish research findings.

The truth is that universities from developing countries have the advantage in that most basic ingredient for excellence - their students. They have the choice of the best and the brightest from their vast populations. Take Indonesia's Gadjah Mada University (No. 49). Last year, it received 70,411 applications. The number of first-year places available: just 3,705. The school's acceptance rate of 5.3% is even more stringent than the 18.8% reported by 55th-ranked University of Indonesia, which accepted 66,407 of the 352,446 students who wanted to get in. (Two other reasons why Gadjah Mada ranks higher than UI: 23% of its teachers have doctorates compared with University of Indonesia's 16%, and its research funding at 16 billion rupiah is far higher than its rival's puny 1.2 billion rupiah.)

 You can say the same thing about Chinese schools. "Their student body is drawn from a large population of very high-performing students," says University of New South Wales pro vice chancellor for development Jane Morrison, referring to Peking University and Fudan University in Shanghai. "The intellectual capacity these Chinese universities bring to research, teaching and scholarship is extraordinary." Sure, they have a long way to go in educational technology. But generous government funding and private-sector endowments can easily upgrade poor physical facilities and pay outstanding professors and researchers what they expect and deserve.

And China has a new ace in affluent Hong Kong, which was reunited with the mainland last year. "We have become an institution that serves all of what I call the Hong Kong Bay area, which includes Guangzhou," says Woo Chia-wei, president of 12th-ranked Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. "We're setting up programs with Peking University. We have also signed an agreement to set up a research academy in Shenzhen." Peking and Fudan have also joined Universitas 21, a grouping of the world's top research-intensive universities (see story page 55).

Can others in Asia keep pace? Only if they continue getting funding. The worst thing governments can do is to cut support for their universities. Schools themselves must focus on research. "We are one solution to the Asian crisis," argues Woo. "For Asia to move into the 21st century, we need to improve our technology and management base." Agrees Thienchay of 19th-ranked Chulalongkorn: "Producing graduates is not the sole duty of a university. The most important thing is the creation of knowledge." Exactly what the 15 schools in the following pages do best.

2. Tohoku University

3. Kyoto University

4. University of Hong Kong

5. National University of Singapore

6. Seoul National University

7. National Taiwan University

8. Chinese University of Hong Kong

9. University of Melbourne

10. University of New South Wales
 

 The president of the University of Tokyo was unusually angry in his March commencement speech. "I am deeply humiliated," said Hasumi Shigehiko. Several graduates were among a slew of top bureaucrats and bankers arrested over financial scandals. "If the climate peculiar to the university is in some way related to their shameless behavior," Hasumi said, "the school must soberly examine itself." In a way, his outburst illustrates the history and might of Todai, as the university is commonly known. Since its founding a decade after the Meiji Restoration overthrew the old feudal order, Todai has been the key stepping-stone to power. The school has produced 10 post-war prime ministers and five of 21 current cabinet members. Nearly 15% of top CEOs are Todai graduates, as are, more tellingly, 60%-80% of elite bureaucrats. Any high-level scandal will inevitably touch the university and tarnish its image.

 But there is no doubt that the school's 27,300 students are among the best and brightest in the country. "Entering the Red Gate" - the historic entrance to its main campus in Tokyo's Hongo district - is a privilege reserved to the few who survive years of study and grueling entrance examinations. Once in, though, ascent to the heights of the civil service and the corporate world is almost guaranteed. Not that this necessarily creates elitists. "There are many Todai students who do not fit the stereotype," says Sasaki Kyoko, a television announcer who graduated two years ago.

Of course, the university is not just a training ground for future mandarins. Its faculties of literature, science, engineering, architecture and medicine are some of Japan's best. The school boasts four Nobel laureates among its alumni, including 1994 literature prize winner Oe Kenzaburo. Its researchers are at the forefront of fields such as earthquake studies and treatment of the AIDS virus. Todai is also trying to shake its conservative image by taking on more unconventional teachers, including critics of the Japanese-style education that it embodies. But change comes slowly. When Terao Yoshiko became the first woman professor to be granted tenure in the law faculty in 1996, her appointment made the national news.

 - By Murakami Mutsuko

 "Open door" is how Tohoku University describes its educational policy, and it lives up to that standard. Japan's third Imperial university was the first elite school to admit women and began granting degrees to foreign students in 1911. Today some of those doors are literally open. Tohoku keeps its campus running round the clock, a rarity among Japanese schools, so that researchers can work as late or early as they want. Such liberal attitudes pay off - the school is said to have cultivated half of Japan's electronics technology.

 Located in Sendai, a small city 350 km north of Tokyo, the university boasts a full range of faculties, but its strength lies in science and engineering. "Tohoku was established as a research institution," says president Abe Hiroyuki. "This tradition continues on today." Abe and his team are not placing research above basic learning. Rather, Tohoku believes a high standard of original work is the necessary foundation of a first-class education.

 Its 16,600 students, including some 800 from abroad, are encouraged to explore new fields of study. And unlike other institutions which allow specialized courses only in the third year, Tohoku students can take them in their first year as a way to push academic performance. Given the school's technical caliber, Tohoku master's degree holders are in demand among manufacturing and high-tech companies. Past graduates include such industrial luminaries as president Kawamoto Nobuhiko of Honda Motors. The school also promotes ties with business to commercialize new technologies, and several university scientists have gone on to found their own companies. "Tohoku students may not look like it, but they are industrious and go at their own pace," says one sophomore.

- By Murakami Mutsuko

 Nagao Makoto is a man of science, an expert in electronic engineering - and acutely conscious of the rapid pace at which the world is evolving. As the new president of Kyoto University, he is determined that its graduates should be able to roll with the punches that the future brings: "We should not be overtaken by changes.'' Nagao believes this means arming students not only with specialized knowledge but also with wisdom and sensitivity.

In pursuing that goal, Kyodai, as it is known, has an edge over many rivals. The university, which marked its centennial last year, has long cultivated initiative, tolerance and a spirit of independence. Those qualities are clearly valued by former students such as Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's pro-democracy heroine, and Taiwan president Lee Teng-hui (he studied agriculture, and Suu Kyi spent nine months at its Center for Southeast Asian Studies).

 At the same time, the university insists on academic excellence. Idealism is welcome, but not woolly mindedness. Kyodai has a strong research presence - there are 13 institutions dedicated to such fields as disaster prevention and chest diseases. Besides the 10 faculties, scholars are offered graduate schools in energy science and environmental studies. New to the list this year: departments in information sciences and Asian-African studies. The wealth of choices might explain why one in two students goes on to graduate school. Indeed, Kyodai was voted the country's most admired university in a recent survey by a Tokyo cram school.

 Asahi Breweries chairman Higuchi Hirotaro is among the prominent leaders trained at Kyodai. Many came through its law faculty, which accounts for about 10% of the lawyers entering the Japanese bar each year. Economics and philosophy remain the best known departments. Yet it is the sciences in which its four Nobel laureates excelled (two prizes for physics and one each for chemistry and medicine). To past president Imura Hiroo, that's creativity fostered in a free-thinking environment.

 - By Murakami Mutsuko

 When the new academic year begins in September, students at the University of Hong Kong will find a few changes. The curriculum has been overhauled to encourage multi-disciplinary interests, and students will be carrying notebook computers that can be linked to the university network through access points in classrooms and lecture halls. The changes are all part of the plan by the SAR's oldest university to become one of the leading institutions in China and beyond.

 "People see us as a British university with a long history, but the curriculum reform will make us more in line with the world," says vice chancellor Cheng Yiu-chung. Under the new credit-based system, 20% of students' courses will be taken outside their majors - in languages, for instance, or general education. "Instead of just producing specialists or professionals, our graduates will be more in touch with the real world," Cheng says. The plan to build a "digital university" where everyone is online is also meant to prepare students for the future. Those who have trouble buying a laptop will be eligible for subsidies.

 In keeping with Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule, HKU had been building up links with institutions in the mainland, and its efforts are bearing fruit. Starting this year, it will run an MBA program in Shanghai jointly with Fudan University. An academic exchange center has been set up with Tsinghua University in Beijing. HKU officials also hope the new initiatives will enliven the conservative institution. After decades as Hong Kong's top university, Cheng admits it is easy to get complacent. Critics point especially to HKU's weakness in research. Student union chairman Peter Tang shares that view. But he adds that the professors are responsible and able, thanks in part to the watchful eye of students who evaluate courses and rate staff.

 - By Law Siu-lan

 It may be among the region's top research universities, but the National University of Singapore is not resting on its laurels. The campus is sprouting research arms like an octopus though the student body is no longer growing at double-digit rates. Among them: the Tropical Marine Science Institute, which will tie up with the famed Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in the U.S., the Kent Ridge Digital Labs for information technology and the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering. The new organizations will add as many as 600 researchers to NUS's already formidable faculty, currently numbering 2,300.

 The high-tech bent reflects Singapore as a whole. The Lion City is styling itself as a digital society with a thriving technology industry. Hence, NUS sports a new School of Computing, as well as a joint project with Stanford University on digital signal processing. Also launched: a master's program in electrical engineering in cooperation with the University of Illinois. NUS faculty are earning notices. Professor Louis Chen was elected president of the international Bernoulli Society for Mathematics, Statistics and Probability - the first Asian ever to hold that post - while Tan Tin Wee has been honored for his Internet research.

 NUS's impressive 150-hectare campus, spread across a series of low hills in the west of the island, is also home to respected engineering, law, and medical schools (the university traces its roots to a medical college founded in 1905). There is a fine tradition of the arts and humanities, and the university has a host of distinguished alumni. Among them: Singapore premier Goh Chok Tong and his Malaysian counterpart Mahathir Mohamad.

- By Andrea Hamilton

 Two-thirds of South Korea's top CEOs, legislators and professionals are alumni. And though President Kim Dae Jung isn't a member of this exclusive club, half of his cabinet is. Perhaps to an even greater degree than Tokyo U, a certificate from Seoul National University is a sure passage to power, prestige and wealth. But not if you are a woman. The old boys' network is truly that - for the boys. Women make up a third of the graduates from South Korea's premier university. But few have been able to break the gender barrier to reach top positions in society, says bond trader Moon Hye Jung. Even though they are products of the same school, "women are still discriminated against in society," she says.

 Kwanak campus, on the outskirts of Seoul, is home to most of SNU's 16 colleges and 71 research institutes as well as an invaluable collection of 18th-century texts in the Gyujanggak archives. Medical studies are conducted at the Yongon facilities in downtown Seoul, and veterinary sciences at its Suwon campus. Of the 31,040 student population, 610 come from abroad. Half are Asians. The number may rise as SNU is keen to improve its overseas links, especially in Australasia. Cross-fertilization should prove beneficial. As it is, SNU may be accused of being parochial: 95% of its 1,827 professors are alumni.

SNU's sheer dominance in national life can be a liability. "The current failure in politics, business and finance should be blamed on the university," jokes one professor. After all, its graduates were running the country. Hong Sung Tae, associate dean of planning, says SNU is pushing for reforms. It has been producing too many lawyers and bureaucrats, he explains. What Korea lacks are experts in science and technology: "We must help our students become renowned scientists, doctors and engineers." The university also wants to shift the emphasis from basic education towards research. But SNU being a government-managed institution, it may be a while before changes appear in the system.

 - By Laxmi Nakarmi

 When an elite institution is viewed as a bit of a dinosaur, it's a signal to change with the times. National Taiwan University is taking big steps to stay ahead. Foremost is external evaluation for all departments. University president Chen Wei-jao describes this as "a mechanism for identifying strengths and weaknesses." The process began this year with 20 departments and will be extended throughout Taida, as Taiwan's top university is commonly known. Assessment of staff, for teaching as well as research, is another move forward. That's generally welcomed by classes fed up with indifferent lecturers. But many of Taida's 24,000 students are also wary. Cheng Jur-shan, a graduate student in pharmacology, complains: "They start to look at teaching skills when a faculty member hasn't published enough quality research."

Taida is also trying to slough off its stuffy image through a plunge into cyber-education. Websites have been set up for some 200 courses, allowing students to exchange information and seek help from lecturers. Because teachers' workload will be increased by being "on-call" to the electronic classroom, participation is voluntary. Even so, says Chen, faculty members are enthusiastic. The intrusion of commercial interest into university life has prompted a new code of ethics for staff. Being stamped out: researchers' practice of releasing early results to the media before subjecting their findings to rigorous peer reviews. Sexual transgressions are another target. Administrators are surely mindful of embarrassing revelations about an alleged affair between a research student and her supervisor (who happened to be the heir of Formosa Plastics tycoon Wang Yung-ching).

 To relieve crowding at its Taipei campus, the university plans to shift the College of Electrical Engineering to Hsinchu. More significantly, planners hope the move will build synergy with a nearby science park which is the heart of Taiwan's semiconductor industry. But the biggest practical headache for Chen is money. Government subsidies once allowed Taida to offer cheap education. That funding was recently slashed by 25% to correct what some view as unfair advantage being given public universities over private ones. Now, Chen has to come up with the difference.

 - By Laurence Eyton

 It has always played up the "Chinese" in its name. So after Beijing resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong, Chinese University lost no time in organizing the China Career Development Award Program. Students sign up for a four-week course on the mainland's social, political and economic systems and a six-week internship in Beijing or other centers. "We get a better understanding of the working environment in different mainland cities," says Kenneth Kwok Ka-chuen, president of the student union. "The university sees China as a big employment market for Hong Kong graduates." Chinese U now has some 200 faculty members and student groups specializing on the mainland.

 In the cramped SAR, the university has the luxury of a 134-hectare campus that boasts an art museum and a tree-lined shopping mall. A five-storey lab complex for cancer and immunology studies opened in January. Also new: a Bioinformatics Center with high-performance computers to boost the mapping of genes, a joint project with the China National Center for Biotechnology Development. Departments of opthalmology and automation engineering have also been established.

The university provides education steeped in Chinese culture but leavened by Western traditions. That means Cantonese courses on Chinese history - and English-language programs in medicine and business. "We give equal emphasis to both languages," says vice chancellor Arthur Li. And for all their enthusiasm for China, officials insist the university will maintain academic independence. "We have resisted interference from patrons," says Li.

- By Peggy Leung Tin-yan

 In 1997, Malaysian Cheah Lean Peng became the first foreign medical student to graduate at the top of his class since the University of Melbourne was founded 45 years ago. This year, ethnic Vietnamese Phuong Pham, another would-be physician, won a Rhodes scholarship. "In many ways," says Alan Gilbert, the Australian school's vice chancellor, "a good university is about being international in links and aspirations." All built, of course, on a sound academic base. Melbourne has developed a vaccine against equine herpes viruses, a hydrogen-powered car and a semi-submersible survey ship. The university also excels in the arts. Its Victorian College of the Arts is a premier training facility, and the Melbourne Theatre Company is a major cultural contributor.

 More than 3,000 foreigners - 9% of the total student population - are currently enrolled in Melbourne U. Many come from Asia. The university recently opened an Institute of Asian Languages and Societies. In response to the region's economic crisis, it has introduced a range of fee options, including deferred payments. Then there are the 700-plus scholarships it awards annually. Valued at $9,750 per year for up to four years, the grants are open to all. Melbourne has room for other Cheah Lean Pengs and Phuong Phams.

- By Ian Jarrett

 Skeptics might say that the only thing Australia has in common with Asia is that both begin with the letter A. Those who do within Paul Keating's hearing would probably get an earful from the combative former prime minister. "Asia is not a flavor of the month," he says. Keating, a visiting professor at the University of New South Wales, is beating the drum for better Australian ties with its northern neighbors. Not that he was the first. UNSW has been linked to modern Asia since the 1950s when it received its first foreign students under the Colombo Plan, a scheme to aid developing countries in the region.

 Help is all the more crucial as the economic meltdown bites into Asia. UNSW's swift response buffered what could have been a major dent in its overseas-student numbers, 70% of which are from the region. There are currently about 4,500 foreign scholars - 16% of the total enrollment. Private students can now pay fees in installments. Hard-hit governments have been offered special schemes to keep training programs going. "If the students had been forced to pull out, their research would have suffered. Benefits to their countries would have been lost," says Jennie Lang of the UNSW international office.

For the past eight years, the school has led research in Australia (its scientists, for example, can take credit for the world's most efficient solar cell). And Asians figure in many projects - UNSW has more international research students than any college in the country. At the undergraduate level, faculties such as medicine and engineering are toughest to get into, and not just because they offer professional qualifications. Its law course is "one of the most appealing educational programs on offer," comments The Good Universities Guide. Even so, officials report a leveling off of scholars from South Korea and Malaysia. But Australia won't face a swelling exodus of overseas students, predicts economist Ainsley Jolley. Despite regional belt-tightening, she says, the earnings premium for graduates will help maintain numbers.

 - By Ian Jarrett
 

China:
City University of Hong Kong
Fudan University
Nanjing University
Nankai University
Peking University
People's University of China
Shandong University
Shanghai Jiaotong University
Sichuan University
Tsinghua University
Wuhan University
Xi'an Jiaotong University
Zhejiang University
Zhongsan (Sun Yat-sen) University
Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
East China University of Science and Technology
South China University of Technology

India:
Aligarh Muslim University
Banaras Hindu University
Maharajah Sayajirao University of Baroda
University of Calcutta
Anna University, Chennai
Birla Institute of Technology

Japan:
Kyushu University
Nagoya Institute of Technology
Tokyo Institute of Technology

New Zealand:
Massey University
University of Canterbury

Pakistan:
Quaid-e-Azam University
University of Karachi

South Korea:
Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology

Taiwan:
National Taiwan Normal University
Tatung Institute of Technology

2. Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

3. Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

4. Nanyang Technological University

5. Science University of Tokyo 

AMAZING WHAT A DETERMINED nation can do. Soon after Independence 50 years ago, India realized the need to develop its technological capabilities. The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, was founded in 1951. Subsequently five other sister universities were established in different places; the latest one, IIT Guwahati in Assam state, is still in the project stage. Today, the various IITs are among the world's most prestigious science and technology schools. In Asiaweek's first-ever ranking of specialized institutes, IIT Delhi and IIT Madras are ranked second and third, respectively, with IIT Bombay No. 6. IIT Kharagpur and IIT Kanpur did not return the questionnaire.

 Topping the new list is South Korea's Pohang University of Science and Technology or Postech. It too is a product of single-mindedness - this time of Pohang Iron and Steel. The world's second-largest steel maker founded the university in 1986 in part to educate engineers for its operations. What about Postech's rival, the government-backed Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology? Sadly, KAIST failed to complete the questionnaire. "Our educational and operational systems are so unique and different from other universities that they can hardly be represented in your questionnaire format," wrote Kyungho Ko of the International Relations Office.

 KAIST still made it to the top 30 list on the strength of its academic reputation. Asked to rate each other on a scale of one to five, the nominated universities gave KAIST an average grade of 3.8 points. The last five schools in the listing on (see Rankings) did not answer the questionnaire, but were rated highly enough by their peers to earn a slot in the ranking. Perhaps this will encourage KAIST and the others to be more forthcoming next year. For 1998, here are the profiles of Asia's top five science and technology universities:

 The Korean steel town of Pohang has proven a fertile incubator for developing one of Asia's top research centers: Pohang University of Science and Technology, known as Postech.

 Established just 12 years ago, Postech is tiny with just 2,531 students. Those best-and-brightest who are accepted by the private institution, located 338 kilometers southeast of Seoul, gain access to a robust educational system. Postech rates best in the country in terms of educational facilities, financial strength and management. Though research still lags other schools, that is largely attributed to Postech's short history. The teacher-student ratio is impressive. There are just six students for every professor. How good are the facilities? Just one example is the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, which sports Korea's first particle accelerator, used for atomic research.

 Postech's pedigree is linked directly to the world's second-largest steel producer, Pohang Iron and Steel. In the early 1980s, the company's need for highly-trained engineers could no longer be met by hiring foreign-trained workers. The solution was to build the country's first private research-oriented institution. Park Tae Joon, founder of the steelworks and now president of the ruling United Liberal Party, was instrumental in the founding of Postech. And the priorities of the university's original backers remain resonant in the curriculum. The Graduate School of Iron and Steel Technology provides students with a rare specialty. The university is also noted for its strong research in materials science and mechanical engineering, reflecting gritty steel-town roots.

 Other disciplines, particularly in life sciences and environmental engineering, are receiving support - and achieving results. Two Postech professors recently discovered a gene that contributes to breast cancer. Groundbreaking research using lasers instead of electricity for computing is being conducted through government and corporate grants.

 The student body is overwhelmingly Korean; students can receive financial aid packages five times larger than what the average Korean student receives.

 - By Laxmi Nakarmi

 Two of the biggest corporate contributors to the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, are Western computer industry giants IBM and Microsoft. In the past, an institution so proudly Indian might have eschewed such corporate involvement. But school officials are keen to reduce their heavy dependence on government funding. "The fact of the matter is that we are now able to make some financial decisions ourselves," says Professor V.S. Raju, the school's director. "The government is allowing us to do that."

 Foreign corporations are eager to participate, in part due to India's reputation as a source of inexpensive computer programming talent. IBM intends to invest $25 million over the next five years to establish a research center on the campus, and will kick in an additional $10 million in grant money. Microsoft is endowing a $250,000 software professorship, the first such academic post the software company has funded outside the U.S. Domestic Indian companies such as the engineering firm Larsen & Toubro have also contributed. "In our endeavor to keep up our standard of research and training, we have dramatically changed our funding pattern,'' Raju says. "You could say that IIT is adjusting to the post-liberalization era."

 What hasn't changed are rigorous academic standards. Indian students compete fiercely for scarce places. Last year, a million young people sought admission to the entire IIT system, studying for two years just to prepare for the brutal entrance exam. Fewer than one out of a hundred are admitted - and only a handful are women. Nevertheless, those women who make the cut don't complain about a lack of dimension to their lives. "Though I have opted for chemical engineering, experiences in the first year at IIT are of a general, rich, and varied nature," says 19-year-old Pragya Singh.

 Certainly the environs are as restful as the coursework is rigorous. The tree-lined Delhi campus sprawls over 130 hectares in the chic Hauz Khas neighborhood. The grounds are dotted with multi-story residential blocks and academic centers. Students also will soon enjoy a state-of-the-art, fiber-optic communications network, providing fast Internet access to the entire campus.

 - By Ritu Sarin

 Pity the brainy young academics entering IIT Madras. Many of them need counseling in their first few semesters to help them accept that, in their new home, they may no longer be the smart kid on the block. The average Madras student scored a near-perfect 98% on his grade 12 exam. "All the entrants are at the top of their classes in secondary school," says M.S. Ananth, Dean of Academic Studies. "When they come here they find somebody has to be at the bottom."

 In fact, you really do have to be a rocket scientist to attend some classes. Madras houses a top-flight aerospace department; the Indian Space Research Organization, which has successfully launched several satellites and participated in India's missile program, has a special unit at the campus. Madras is also closely tied to the country's most important nuclear research organization, the Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research.

 With government grants declining, administrators have increasingly turned to the private sector for funding. Last year industry-sponsored research projects totaled some $2 million. This year, Ford Motor Co. endowed a chair at Madras to study auto technology, safety and the environment. The ties between academia and industry are strong in other ways. Many graduates go on to noteworthy business careers. Four of India's biggest companies involved in advanced research, including software developer Infosys and Hindustan Aeronautics, have Madras alumni at the helm.

 Graduates have fond memories of the wooded, 250-hectare campus, which was carved out of a nature preserve "away from the hustle and bustle of the marketplace," says Ashok Khanna, a Madras grad who is now managing director of a large Indian power equipment company. It's not exactly rustic. There are shopping centers, a hospital, sports facilities, a post office and community centers. Khanna calls it "the ideal academic environment." It may be, as long as you can cope with not being the brightest student on campus.

- By Arjuna Ranawana

 The troubled regional economy has worked in favor of Nanyang Technological University. One of the Singapore institution's toughest challenges is recruiting the best students and faculty away from more prestigious universities worldwide. These days, sharp students once bound for education overseas are finding that option too expensive due to regional currency devaluations. In droves, they are calling Nanyang home.

 The trend should help the institution, which opened in 1981 as a business and industry training ground. Seven years ago, Nanyang began to cultivate niche areas of research in emerging fields such as microelectronics and biomedical engineering. "In these areas, we are all beginners,'' says S.M. Krishnan, director of the Biomedical Engineering Research Centre. "So we can compete better, and have a better impact.''

 In target areas such as microprocessor research and advanced manufacturing processes, Nanyang can point to success. In 1992 the university garnered a coveted award from the U.S.-based Society of Manufacturing Engineers, becoming only the second non-U.S. school to win. Three years later, an NTU research team won the Texas Instruments Digital Signal Processing Solutions contest, besting 320 teams from 26 countries.

 - By Andrea Hamilton

 Basic science is one of Science University of Tokyo's strong points. Many observers rank its research in this field among the best in Japan. The university has eight departments for undergraduates and seven graduate schools - all with well-equipped laboratories. Cutting-edge areas include mathematics and chemistry. In the 1960s, the university added faculties in pharmacy and engineering. A venerable school of business management has been turning out corporate executives since 1933.

The SUT figures among the top 10 Japanese universities in placing graduates in much-coveted civil service posts. Many find employment with major Japanese manufacturing companies. Meanwhile, about a third choose to stay at the university to continue their research - an unusually high proportion for a private university and an indication of the dedication of SUT grads. Research is often conducted jointly with private companies in seven leading fields, including remote sensing and artificial intelligence.

 Six campuses offer undergraduate and professional courses. Three are in central Tokyo, one each in Chiba and Saitama prefectures, and one is on northern Hokkaido. Enrollment is over 20,000 students and the curriculum so rigorous that many fail their term exams and have to repeat them. But there's time for recreation. Many students spend entire days playing mahjong.

 In contrast to the environment in most Japanese schools, the SUT has a reputation for encouraging free thinking and creativity. "It is tough at the beginning," recalls Sugimoto Hideaki, an SUT alumnus who majored in math and is currently working as a systems engineer with Hitachi. "But you soon find it so challenging and such great fun that you cannot stop."

 - By Murakami Mutsuko

"This is a positive, not a negative, for Singapore," says NUS vice chancellor Lim Pin, who points out that there are always students who want to see the world, experience other cultures and extend their range of contacts. That is true of their teachers too - and others in the school, including registrars, librarians and researchers. "We're using the [Universitas] network to send our best staff abroad to cement relationships and to bring back new ideas," says Jane Morrison, pro vice chancellor for development at the University of New South Wales. Such cross-fertilization is the key toward attaining Universitas 21's main objective of helping members become "global universities" - in the students and faculty they attract, the values they espouse and the scholars that make use of their research and creativity.

 Not everyone can join Universitas 21. An aspiring school must attract the best and the brightest students, offer a full range of academic programs and excel in research. Two-thirds of the membership must agree on a candidate's suitability before an invitation is sent out. "We're looking at a Japanese university, one or two American schools and three in continental Europe," says Chris Robinson, director of the group's secretariat. University of California at Berkeley sent a representative to the association's April meeting in Scotland, but it is not yet clear whether it would sign up. China's Tsinghua University is waiting for government permission to join. Schools in India, South America and Africa may also be asked. "Ultimately we will restrict the number of participating universities to 25 or fewer," says Robinson. The association is limiting membership to avoid unwieldiness.

Formed at the initiative of the three Australian universities in March last year, Universitas 21 (from the Latin word for university; "21" stands for the new millennium) is already notching up small successes. "It is now much easier to contact other universities," says John Niland, vice chancellor of the University of New South Wales. "One of the rules we have is that each president has to return another president's phone call in a day or two." But he has no illusions about the road ahead. "The real test would be if a university would put forward information about itself on the table, push it around and see what the other universities think," says Niland. "It requires trust. Traditionally, universities don't do that because of competition. We need time to build up confidence."

 Sensitive data will need to be shared. No one wants to send its students to a university it is not sure upholds the highest standards - or to grant a research license and the use of facilities to a member school without knowing its capabilities. "We are setting up joint programs with absolute quality checks," says Cheng Yiu-chung, vice chancellor of the University of Hong Kong. "We will measure them against the world's best, and hopefully, we will build [in Universitas 21] a trademark that will be beneficial for us all." The hope is that "Universitas 21" will become a brand name for world-class education, making members more successful in attracting top students and professors, raising endowment funds and winning research grants.

The challenge is to strike a balance between collective and individual needs. "The organization may provide guidance in practical terms, but it must not try to impose on every university its style of management," says Chi Huisheng, who is responsible for foreign relations at Peking University. "Each country and university must keep its characteristics." Other details need to be ironed out. What happens if everyone wishes to study, say, in American universities? How can different curriculums and course requirements be harmonized? What about budgets? So far, shared spending totals about $500,000. Typically, each university funds a Universitas project on its own, including support for exchange students.

Self-interest is a strong motivation for resolving these issues. "In the corporate world, strategic cooperation has long been an accepted practice," says Hong Kong's Cheng. "We feel academic cooperation is a very wise move, especially in the light of shrinking budgets." Adds Niland: "Individual runners train together under one team, but once the Olympics is on, they become competitors. That's Universitas 21. We work together to raise standards - then it's everyone for himself." The cause of quality education should win a gold medal.

 - With reporting by Anne Naham/Beijing