SAR five among top 100 in global uni rankings

Rachael Ng

Five local universities have continued to show academic excellence by making it to the world's top 100 - with three of them rising in rank - in the latest Times Higher Education rankings.

The University of Hong Kong maintained 35th place as well as its reputation as the best university in the SAR. The Chinese University of Hong Kong climbed nine places up to 44th.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, City University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Polytechnic University also made it into the top 100 this year. CityU and PolyU rose two and three places higher to 80th and 84th, respectively, while HKUST saw its ranking drop by two spots to 66th.

More than 2,000 universities - the highest number ever - were evaluated for this year's ranking based on 18 performance indicators, covering such areas as teaching, research, knowledge transfer and internationalization.

The University of Oxford sat on top for a record-breaking nine years in a row, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology coming in second, followed by Harvard University at third.

For mainland universities, Tsinghua University took the top spot for the seventh year at 12th place, followed by Peking University at 13th, up from 14th in 2023.

Fudan University has risen to joint-36th, making it the third-best institution in the mainland.

Zhejiang University has achieved a significant milestone by entering the top 50 for the first time, marking a notable advancement for the institution in global rankings.

A total of 94 mainland universities entered the rankings this year - eight more than last year. Among them, 26 universities saw their rankings improve while six fell.

"The vast majority of mainland Chinese universities have made yet more progress up the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, which is a phenomenal achievement given this is our biggest ranking ever," said Times rankings' chief global affairs officer Phil Baty.

"While most people's attention is focused on Tsinghua University and Peking University, as they knock on the door of a top-10 position, the next tier of Chinese universities -- from 30 to 100 -- have all made significant gains over the last few years and are definitely ones to watch over the next couple of years."

rachael.ng@singtaonewscorp.com