Three Hong Kong universities rise in prominent rankings of Asian institutions
- Chinese University overtook the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to become the city’s second best
- The University of Hong Kong, meanwhile, hung on to the top spot locally, and remained in fourth place overall
In the latest Times Higher Education (THE) rankings, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) dropped three spots to eighth place out of more than 500 schools across Asia. It was overtaken this year by Chinese University, which rose one spot from eighth place to seventh.
The city’s top-ranked institution, the University of Hong Kong, remained in fourth place for a third consecutive year, behind China’s Tsinghua and Peking universities, and the National University of Singapore, which came in first, second and third, respectively.
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The two other local schools to improve in this year’s rankings were Polytechnic University, which rose from 24th to 23rd, and Baptist University, which jumped from 75th to 62nd. City University, meanwhile, dropped from 16th to 19th.
The latest rankings, released on Wednesday, covered 551 higher education institutions from 30 countries and regions across Asia.
Universities were assessed on 13 sets of indicators, including academic reputation, research strength and international outlook – measured by their proportion of foreign students and staff.
Responding to the rankings, Chinese University said it would “continue to strive for excellence in teaching and research”, while a HKUST spokesman said Wednesday’s results were a useful reference for identifying areas for improvement.
Since the law went into effect last June, a growing number of teachers have left Hong Kong, and critics of the legislation have voiced concerns that staff at local universities could follow suit.
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“Any movement of talent away from Hong Kong’s universities could impact their standing in future THE rankings given the inclusion of academic reputation and research publications as metrics,” a spokesman said in an email.
