The University of Hong Kong has fallen from third place to fourth in the latest regional list. Photo: Winson Wong
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https://scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/3198885/mainland-chinas-peking-university-secures-first-place-asian-league-table-while-hong-kong Education
Mainland China’s Peking University secures first place in Asian league table, while Hong Kong institutions all slide lower in ranking
- Prestigious academic institution in Beijing beats National University of Singapore to claim first place among Asia’s varsities
- British analytics company behind the list says Hong Kong still boasts ‘one of the highest concentrations of quality universities’ in the world
Peking University in Beijing has secured first place in an Asian league table, while Hong Kong institutions have fallen down the list. Photo: Xinhua
Peking University in Beijing has beat out Singapore’s top college to claim first place in an influential league table for Asia, while all of Hong Kong’s academic institutions have taken a collective tumble in the rankings.
British firm Quacquarelli Symonds, which compiled the Asian University Rankings 2023, on Tuesday said that despite the slight drop in the list, Hong Kong remained a world-renowned academic hotspot, with three local varsities ranked among the continent’s top 20.
“Hong Kong not only boasts one of the highest concentrations of quality universities in the region, but in the world,” the company said.
The city’s two oldest academic institutions, the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Chinese University (CUHK), each fell one spot to a respective fourth and 12th places among the 760 varsities ranked in Asia.
A representative for HKU said it was working towards its plan to become Asia’s “global university”, a move which would enhance its international reputation.
A spokeswoman for CUHK also said the result should be considered in the broader context of the city’s overall performance, explaining: “CUHK’s result was not an outlier and the university maintains a very competitive overall position in Asia.”
The ranking was also historic for Peking University, which claimed the top spot for the first time, overtaking the National University of Singapore, which held the position in past listings.
The Singaporean varsity fell to second place, while the mainland’s Tsinghua University took the third spot.
The Post has contacted Peking University for comment.
The new list also marked a change from previous compositions of the top three institutions, with NUS and its sister site Nanyang Technological University usually dominating the rankings and leaving a single space for either a mainland varsity or HKU.
Nine Hong Kong institutions – seven publicly funded ones and their private counterparts Shue Yan University and Hang Seng University – featured in the list but all fell from previous positions.
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) dropped out of the top 10, falling to 14th place.
A spokeswoman for HKUST said it considered rankings useful references for understanding more about the university’s performance and which areas it could improve on.
“[HKUST] will continue to put emphasis on promoting innovation and scientific research, while offering top-quality education to our students,” she said.
City University (CityU) was listed in 23rd, losing its spot in the top 20, while Polytechnic University (PolyU) fell one place to 26th and Baptist University went from 66th to 68th.
Tsinghua University, another top academic institution in Beijing, secured third place in the ranking for Asia. Photo: Simon Song
In the lower rankings, Lingnan University fell from 131st place to 152nd. Meanwhile, Shue Yan University and Hang Seng University were Hong Kong’s lowest scorers, respectively falling from the previous 301-350 and 501-550 ranges to places in the 351-400 and 551-600 sections.
But Quacquarelli Symonds praised Hong Kong’s institutions for their outstanding level of high-impact research and the prominence of international students and staff there.
Rankings are determined by 11 indicators, including academic standing, faculty staff with PhDs, graduate employability, research quality and productivity, internationalisation on campus, and the diversity of each institution’s overseas collaborations.
In terms of individual metrics, Quacquarelli Symonds said HKU was Asia’s seventh most well-renowned university among international academics and the city’s most well-regarded institution among overseas employers.
HKUST, meanwhile, was top among its competitors in the continent in terms of research impact, the analytics company added.
“[HKUST] produces most of its scholarly output in engineering and technology, specifically in petroleum engineering and computer sciences. Its 2019 work on machine learning has generated particular interest,” the company said, noting both institutions were in Asia’s top five for the category of citations per paper.
The rankings also showed CityU had Hong Kong’s highest ratio of faculty members to students, giving it a strong teaching capacity.
“Not only does [CityU] enjoy a high number of teachers, but they are also of the highest calibre in Hong Kong, 37th best in Asia according to the staff with a PhD indicator,” it said.
However, the firm also said universities in Hong Kong fared the worst in the category for the number of research papers published per faculty member, with the company concluding local institutions had low productivity in terms of research output.
“The road to recovery is illuminated by its shortfalls in this year’s table – it consists of greater research productivity, investing in the highest quality faculty, and continuous cross-border collaboration,” said Ben Sowter, the company’s senior vice-president.