Just last week, Nanyang Technological University made the news for beating National University of Singapore in a world university ranking - NTU was ranked 11th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) list that uses six metrics, while NUS was placed 15th.

This week, in another university ranking, it is back to the status quo.

In the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings released this morning, NUS was placed 27th, one place lower than last year, while NTU remained in the 81 to 90 band.

Harvard University takes the top spot for the seventh year in a row. The rankings are based on ratings by senior academics around the world.

This year, over 10,000 academics from 137 countries were asked to rate institutions based on excellence in research and teaching within their disciplines and at institutions with which they are familiar. The University of Tokyo is the highest placed in the Asia-Pacific region at 11th.

Times Higher Education rankings editor Phil Baty noted that NTU is just 26 years old and lags behind on reputation. "As it continues to build its research performance and gains global recognition, its prestige is likely to improve in future years," he said of NTU.

NTU president Bertil Andersson agreed that a university's reputation is not built overnight. "As a young university, we know this is one area where universities established many decades or centuries ago will have an advantage over us.

"Reputation is actually harder to change than bibliometric results which are an objective measurement of a university's performance... We have made great strides in the various global league tables due to our strong performance in the more objective indicators such as in research citations," he said.

An NUS spokesman said: "We will actively pursue our long term strategy of building broad-based excellence across a comprehensive range of disciplines, especially those that are of strategic importance to Singapore. NUS will also remain focused on nurturing future-ready graduates."