Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City and its Hanoi sister entered the 801-1000 band of the 2021 rankings, compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a British firm specializing in overseas education, and released Thursday.

Last year, both schools had entered the top 1000 in the global ranking.

This year, the Hanoi University of Science and Technology made it into the list for the first time, placed in the 1001+ bracket along with HCMC-based Ton Duc Thang University.

The list analyzes six factors including academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty ratio and international student ratio to compile the rankings that rate 1,011 universities from 80 countries and territories.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology topped the 2021 QS University World Ranking, followed by Stanford and Harvard in the U.S.

According to QS, Vietnam National University-HCMC hosts up to 61,905 students and 3,985 faculty staff. Its research output is assessed at ‘high level.’

The Hanoi school is home to around 35,000 students and 2,600 academic staff, with its research output also appraised at 'high level’.

The Hanoi University of Science and Technology has a total 128 international students and 1,480 faculty staff while Ton Duc Thang has 417 international students and 1,460 faculty staff.

Vietnamese universities have been performing well in other global education rankings too.

Vietnam National University-Hanoi and Vietnam National University-HCMC last year entered the Best Global Universities rankings put out by the U.S. News & World Report while Ton Duc Thang University, with two campuses in HCMC, was named among the top 400 global universities in the Times Higher Education’s University Impact Rankings last April.