Four universities in Hong Kong have risen in a global ranking compiled by a prominent British-based publication.
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) retained its 35th position, the highest among the six local institutions ranked by Times Higher Education.
The publication, which unveiled the annual rankings on Wednesday, also praised the consistent advances made by universities in mainland China. Thirteen mainland institutions were ranked among the top 200. Two were in the top 20.
The rankings covered more than 2,000 institutions from 133 countries and territories, the largest number yet.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong re-entered the top 50 at 44th, rising nine places from last year to its highest position since it was included in the rankings over a decade ago. It placed 45th in 2022.
The University of Science and Technology fell two places to 66th, the only local institution to record a decline this year. City University rose two places to 80th while Polytechnic University went up three spots to 84th.
Baptist University rose from the 301-350 group to the 251-300 section.
Oxford University in the United Kingdom was the top-ranked institution for the ninth straight year, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States.
Stanford University fell two places to sixth, while Harvard University rose a spot to No 3. Princeton University and the UK’s Cambridge University were ranked fourth and fifth respectively.
The 18 ranking indicators are grouped into five categories – teaching, research environment, research quality, industry and international outlook.
Ninety-four mainland universities were ranked this year, which means the country has the highest number of institutions in the list apart from four other nations.
The US has the most number of ranked universities with 174, followed by 119 from Japan. India and the UK each have 107 institutions on the list.
“In the 2021 edition of the Times Higher Education global rankings, the US had 59 universities in the top 200, which has now dropped to 55. The UK’s decreased from 29 to 25 and Germany’s from 21 to 20,” the publication said.
“China and Japan are the only countries to increase their representation in the top 200 by more than one during this period, by six and three respectively. China now has 13 and Japan has five.”
Phil Baty, the publication’s chief global affairs officer, said the data showed remarkable and consistent improvement by mainland institutions, which were backed by strong political will and a commitment to generous funding over many years.
“It is a science and research powerhouse with universities attracting the world’s talent,” he said in the publication’s press release.
Tsinghua University retained it’s No 12 position on the list, marking its seventh straight year as China’s top-ranked institution. Peking University rose a place to 13th.
The publication noted that there were two mainland universities in the top 20, four in the top 50, seven in the top 100 and 13 in the top 200.
“In the 2018 edition, seven years ago, it had just two top-100 institutions. Universities in the Chinese mainland have seen the biggest improvement over the past five years compared with the rest of the world,” it said.
It added that the Chinese government’s investment in higher education was paying off.
Times Higher Education noted central authorities’ plans to increase spending on science and technology by 10 per cent this year to 370 billion yuan (US$52.3 billion), strengthening the nation’s self-reliance in those sectors.
“Funding for research will increase by 13 per cent to 98 billion yuan to promote the development of high-level research universities,” it said.
The improvement of the mainland universities was “primarily driven by the patents metric”, it added.
“With this year’s patent data being sourced even more widely than before, an even more accurate reflection of China’s ability to transfer cutting edge research to wider society emerges.”
For large countries with more than 50 ranked universities, China is the fourth-best in the world in research quality, behind only Germany, the UK, Italy and the US, the publication said.
