HKUST takes over HKU amongst global best

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has had its strongest showing yet—coming 28^th in the latest QS World University Rankings for the period 2015/16 beating The University of Hong Kong (HKU) by two places. The survey is the largest of its kind in the world—with over 76,000 academics and 44,000 employers contributing to the results. It makes for a dramatic watershed for HKUST who only last year ranked 40^th in the world—with HKU dropping two places and The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) falling as much as 5 places down to 51^st.

Speaking to The South China Morning Post, Ben Sowter, Head of Research, QS stated that the results were due to a change in the way that citations per faculty were evaluated—addressing the historical bias towards life sciences and medicine.

“Since CUHK and HKU both have medical schools, their results are slightly weaker than they would have been under our previous approach,” Sowter told The South China Morning Post. “The strengths of other Hong Kong institutions in engineering, technology and social sciences has been more equitably recognised.”

It comes as universities in Hong Kong in general have shown a strong standing amongst their Asian rivals. The National University of Singapore, its domestic counterpart Nanyang Technological University and China’s Tsinghua University took the top three spots respectfully for Asia in the rankings.

Indeed, the news was not all bad for HKU and CUHK, who came out top amongst Hong Kong universities in the ‘academic reputation’ parameter, which sources the opinion of 75,000 academics and present students—ranking 28^th and 50^th respectfully in the world.

Sowter added, ”Hong Kong has a lot going for it—geographic location at the heart of Asia; status as a gateway to China; highly international universities with a history of operating and publishing in English; and a clear capability to operate effectively across disciplines, despite the traditional pressure from governments and rankings to prioritise STEM. This year’s rebalancing of research recognition across disciplines has thus served to reveal this strength in breadth.”