Three Hong Kong universities slide down global league table ranking graduates’ employability
- HKUST drops to 26th in the world for producing employer-friendly graduates, depriving the city of any top 20 institutions
- Researchers for the study, published in the Britain-based Times Higher Education magazine, say the decline could be linked to politics
Three Hong Kong universities have dropped down a global league table ranking the employability of graduates, leaving the city without a representative in this year’s top 20.
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) fell from 10th to 26th in the 2020 study published in the Britain-based Times Higher Education magazine, and the University of Hong Kong (HKU) slid from 35th to 48th.
Polytechnic University fell four places to 129th, while Chinese University was the only local institution to record a rise, shifting up one place to 86th.
The rankings, compiled by French human resources consultancy Emerging, cover 250 institutions rated by more than 9,000 recruiters from 22 countries. They were assessed on their ability to produce the best graduates for employers.
Researchers told the Post that although Hong Kong universities always performed well in the study, there was an overall decline for 2020, which they said could relate to the local political atmosphere over the past year, as well as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
PolyU and Chinese universities were the worst hit, with a campus of the former occupied by hardcore demonstrators and their supporters during a 13-day police siege.
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The saga of the siege at Hong Kong's PolyU
