Freedom of speech in academic environment lauded for causing jump in rankings.

“Did you just say something homophobic? Oh my god we are so moving up the rankings again next year.”

The National University of Singapore has been placed 21st in the 2014 World Reputation Rankings published by the Times Higher Education (THE).

This is one spot higher than last year’s 22nd position.

One NUS student, Jiang Niao Hua, said: “NUS students and faculty would like to thank Associate Professor Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied, who last week said lesbians equal cancers.”

“By exercising freedom of speech, he showed that NUS is a free and world class university that tolerates open ideas, which explains why we went up one notch.”

This year, NTU, on the other hand, is languishing in the 91st to 100th band this year.

They fell from the 71st to 80th band in the 2013 list. Universities outside the top 50 spots are not given a specific rank, partly because it is embarrassing and partly because it is pointless.

One NUS student, Hen Xiao Zhang, said: “If NTU is languishing in the 91st to 100th band, it means they are in the 100 position.”