Hong Kong universities slide down rankings in nearly 40 per cent of subjects, according to Britain-based firm

Of the 171 academic programmes ranked in Hong Kong, 66 declined, while 64 remained more or less the same as last year

Only 29 disciplines saw an improvement, including HKU’s dentistry programme, which rose to become the world’s third best

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The University of Hong Kong (pictured) saw the most subjects fall in this year’s rankings. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 8:00am, 4 Mar 2021Updated: 12:32pm, 4 Mar 2021

Hong Kong universities’ international reputations appear to have taken something of a hit – at least in certain disciplines – with many local institutions experiencing declines in a global league table ranking the quality of the education they offer in various subjects.

Eight of the nine local institutions included in the table by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) saw some of their academic programmes perform worse this year than last, with the University of Hong Kong (HKU) experiencing the most subjects declining.

Of the 171 programmes ranked in Hong Kong, 66 of them – or nearly 40 per cent – declined, while 64 remained more or less the same as last year. Only 29 disciplines – or about 17 per cent – saw an improvement, while the remaining 12 subjects were newly ranked.

The rankings were based on the university programmes’ reputation among academics and employers – as determined by surveys – as well as their impact and their research citations.

Statistics from QS showed that Hong Kong’s median academic reputation score decreased slightly over the last year, from 72.8 to 71.1 out of 100. The median employer reputation score dropped from 75.1 to 70.9 year on year.