The Chinese mainland has cemented its position as Asia's top-performing higher education system, with Tsinghua and Peking universities retaining first and second place for the third consecutive year according to the latest Asia University Ranking released by the Times Higher Education.

Additionally, the mainland has 30 spots in the top 100, the same as last year. Twenty-two of these 30 top-100 institutions have risen or stayed in the same position compared with last year.

Overall, there are 97 universities from the Chinese mainland in the ranking, up from 91 last year, making it the second most-represented nation in the table, which comprises 616 universities from 31 countries and territories.

Japan is the most-represented nation in the ranking for the seventh consecutive year (in 2016, it was joint top with Chinese mainland) with 118 institutions, up from 116 last year. The University of Tokyo retained sixth place. There are eight Japanese universities that feature in the top 100.

Phil Baty, chief knowledge officer at Times Higher Education, said the ranking provides a closer focus on the Asian context and is "based on the most comprehensive, balanced and rigorous set of performance indicators available, with 13 separate metrics used to assess research-intensive universities in the round.

"Once again, this new dataset shows the extraordinarily diverse range of excellence across the Asian continent – with 31 Asian nations/regions making the list, and with successes in all corners of the continent," Baty said. "The data demonstrate Asia is perhaps the most exciting and most dynamic continent for higher education, research and innovation in the world today."

India is the third most-represented country with 71 institutions, up from 63 last year. The Indian Institute of Science made the top 50, at 42nd place. A further three are in the top 100, and JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research made its debut in 65th place. There are 17 Indian universities in the top 200, down from 18 last year. Of the 14 that were ranked in both years, eight have risen.

China's Taiwan has 40 universities in the ranking, up from 38 last year. There are six universities in the top 100. National Taiwan University leads the pack at joint 21st, with Taipei Medical University in 29th (a slight rise from 30th). Taiwan's National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University is the highest-ranked newcomer in the table at joint 44th.

Pakistan has significantly increased its showing in the ranking this year, with 21 universities, up from 16 last year. While it dropped out of the top 100 (Quaid-i-Azam University fell 16 places to 116th), it has doubled its representation in the top 200 from three to six.

Thailand has 17 universities in the ranking, exactly the same as last year. Indonesia has significantly increased its showing in the ranking, with 14 institutions, up from nine last year. Three of its institutions made the top 400.