China is now home to more top performing universities than Japan, based on a Times survey on the best 100 Universities in Asia.

The top 100 survey is based on the quality of education provided by higher education institutions. The list includes 21 Chinese universities from the mainland, six Hongkong universities, and one Macao school, according to Xinhua.

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Only 19 of Japan's universities were included in the prestigious list for 2015. While more universities from China are being added on the list, the number of Japanese universities decrease every year.  This means that more Chinese schools are beginning to offer better education than Japanese schools.

Japanese educators may take comfort in the fact that the Times survey ranked the University of Tokyo in the number one spot.  Chinese universities, however, are closing in.  Peking University is this year's fourth and Tsinghua University trails at fifth, China Daily reported. 

Times Higher Education, the institution that conducted the survey in Asia, offered several reasons why China has outperformed Japan in the field of higher education.

Times said that Chinese educators were not burdened by financial constraints in their quest to improve their schools.  In contrast, Japanese universities will have to make do with a budget that grows smaller every year.

Wah Ching Center director Gerard Postiglione enumerated three reasons why the quality of higher education in Japan has declined.  One reason is the lack of fresh talents in most Japanese universities.  This means that the universities mainly recruit professors who graduated from their school.  University funds intended for research are limited to a select few.  Lastly, young educators find little hope for advancement or promotion in the school that they work in. 

UCL Education professor Simon Marginson believes that Japanese higher education has become stagnant.

Japanese universities in Tokyo and Kyoto still maintain their high quality of education, but their Chinese counterpart are willing to put more money on the country's education segment to catch up. 

Times Editor Phil Baty said that "reputation" alone is no longer enough for Japanese universities.  Japan has to take immediate actions if it wants its higher learning institutions to become competitive again.

Other countries that have performed poorly in the survey include Taiwan and India.  Six Taiwanese universities were from the top 100 list.  Many Indian universities have either been demoted or removed from the list.

Tagstop 100 asian universities, University of Tokyo, Times Higher Education Rankings