University of Hong Kong places 25th in 2019 QS World University Rankings – its top marks in seven years
HKU and Baptist University only city institutions to rise in rankings, while Tsinghua University becomes the first mainland Chinese university to crack the top 20 in more than a decade
Hong Kong’s oldest university achieved its best showing in seven years in the QS World University Rankings 2019 released on Thursday, coming in at 25th place among 1,000 institutions around the world.
But while the University of Hong Kong (HKU) could cheer its move up from 26 in the 2018 edition – as could Baptist University, for rising from 299 to 277 in this year’s league table – five other universities in the city saw their standing slide.
University rankings are useful, but they don’t tell the whole story
The University of Science and Technology (HKUST) fell from 30th last year to 37th, while Chinese University dipped three places to 49th.
City University (CityU) slid from 49th last year to 55th, Polytechnic University (PolyU) went down from 95th to 106th, and Lingnan University fell from the 551-600 band to 601-650 band.
Education information firm Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), which compiled the annual list for the 15th year, attributed HKU’s improvement to more impactful research, with papers produced by faculty members between 2012 and 2016 cited more frequently by other scholars.