Hong Kong universities’ international reputation takes a hit in latest world rankings, but result still ‘broadly positive’
- Four Hong Kong tertiary institutions gain ground in latest World University Rankings 2023, with Polytechnic University’s strength in research highlighted
- Hong Kong University of Science and Technology falls six spots to 40th, with two others also registering drops
The international reputation of Hong Kong’s universities has taken a hit among academics and employers, according to an annual higher education league table, despite four of the institutions having risen in their overall rankings.
The World University Rankings 2023 released on Thursday by Britain-based education information firm Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), which rated 1,418 tertiary institutions worldwide, also showed that three other local universities recorded a drop in placing.
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) rose one rung from last year to 21st in the world, while Chinese University (CUHK) climbed one spot to 38th and Baptist University moved up six places to 281st.
Polytechnic University inched up a spot to 65th, with QS describing the institution’s strength in research as a key factor in its improved performance.
“Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s rise is underpinned by a significant improvement in research, according to the citations per faculty indicator in which it climbs 27 positions to place 151st,” QS said in a press release.
The rankings take into account six key indicators of university performance. Apart from academic and employer reputation, the others are citations per faculty that measures the institutes’ research impact, faculty to student ratio that reflects teaching capacity and international faculty ratio that looks at the proportion of non-domestic faculty at an institution.
