Hong Kong universities fall for first time in 5 years behind mainland Chinese institution in world rankings
For the very first time in five years, a mainland Chinese university has beaten its counterparts in Hong Kong to squeeze into Asia’s top three in the processes used to compile the positions, thanks to some revision on the latest QS World University Rankings.
The revision this year has compensated to get a “historical prejudice” towards life sciences and natural sciences. It has additionally accounted for papers in arts, humanities, social sciences and management printed in languages other than English.Tsinghua University has this year climbed to third in Asia and 25th global in the standings. It’s followed in the area by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in fourth, which performed the best among all universities in Hong Kong and rated 28th on earth.
“China’s investment in higher education and research in the past decade has been amazing,” said QS head of research Ben Sowter. “Besides much progress in engineering and technology, our revised and more balanced evaluation on research impact has enabled China to show stronger performances.”
In Asia, Tsinghua ranked between 9th and 10th previously four years.
The methodological changes have also allowed HKUST, last year, bound from 40th, to outperform the University of Hong Kong. HKU is ranked fifth in 30th and Asia in 28th on earth and the world this time, down from last year’s second in Asia.
