UGM ranked first on the list of 3,062 campuses, performing well in the "contribution to society" category, a new indicator introduced in this year, said Muhammad Dimyati, director general for strengthening of research and development at the Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry.

"UGM produced more research results that have been harnessed by society than other universities," Dimyati told reporters after the ministry's event to commemorate Indonesia's 72nd Independence Day at the Science and Technology Development and Research Center (Puspiptek) in Serpong, Tangerang, Banten.

Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), which topped the 2016 list, dropped to second position on this year.

(Read also: UGM law students beats Harvard in Argentina)

Meanwhile, the Bogor Institute of Agriculture in Bogor, West Java and University of Indonesia (UI) in Depok, West Java, occupy the third and fourth spots, respectively.

The ministry used 11 indicators to measure the quality of campuses on the list, such as percent of lecturers with doctoral degrees, ratio of students to lecturers, national accreditation and scientific publication.

Apart from contribution to society, new indicators used in the rankings are international accreditation and the number of overseas students.

The ministry will include next year innovation as an indicator to gauge the quality of universities.

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