Times Higher Education Awards Asia 2024: winners announced

Turkish university’s ‘clarity of vision’ in transformation into innovation hub secures top prize

April 29, 2024

A university’s transformation into an innovation hub for a region of Turkey traditionally defined by agriculture and tourism has been recognised with the top prize in the latest round of the Times Higher Education Awards Asia.

Her Majesty Raja Zarith Sofiah, Queen of Malaysia, presented the award for Leadership and Management Team of the Year to representatives from the Izmir Institute of Technology in a ceremony held in Kuala Lumpur on 29 April.

The judges praised the “clarity of vision” from the public research university’s leaders, following their work to highlight the untapped potential of Izmir as an innovation and research hub, including securing more government support.

“The strategy was based on an understanding of the potential not just of the institution, but also of the region in which it is based,” the judges said.

“That ambition, and the leadership shown by Iztech in mobilising resources and partners ranging from government to industry, was enormously impressive.”

Teams from the National University of Singapore (NUS) took home two of the 10 awards at the THE Awards Asia, for International Strategy of the Year and Teaching and Learning Strategy of the Year.

Judges recognised the “transformational strategy for international recruitment” of NUS’ business school in the face of challenges including pandemic-induced travel restrictions and competition from prestigious Chinese institutions.

Eighty finalists were in the running for the sixth edition of these awards, which celebrate innovation across Asia’s higher education institutions, with 17 countries and territories represented.

Representatives from Thailand’s Hatyai and Chulalongkorn universities also took home an award each, while other winners were from institutions across Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Phil Baty, THE’s chief global affairs officer, noted the “wealth” of innovation across the region, with 600 institutions entering this year’s awards. “We received such a flood of excellent entries that I have to emphasise that these 10 winners – chosen through a rigorous and robust judging process – are but the primus inter pares, the first among a host of quality submissions that our experts singled out,” he said.

The awards ceremony coincided with THE’s Asia Universities Summit, being held in Kuala Lumpur in partnership with Sunway University.