Universities from Chinese mainland climb up world rankings

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Universities from Chinese mainland climb up world rankings

(People's Daily Online) 09:21, October 03, 2013

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Beijing, Oct.3 (People's Daily Online) -- Chinese mainland now has two world top-50 universities in the prestigious Times Higher Education list while an elite group of U.S. and British “super-brands” continues to dominate the rankings.

According to the 2013-14 Times Higher Education World University Rankings published by the Times Higher Education magazine, The California Institute of Technology retains its place at the top for the third consecutive year, with Harvard University regaining second place, up from fourth a year earlier, a position shared with the UK’s University of Oxford. Stanford University slips from joint second to fourth.

The US continues to dominate, taking seven of the top 10 places. This year it has 77 institutions in the rankings – one more than in 2012-13. It seems to have largely arrested signs of decline in recent years: of its top 200 institutions, 40 have risen up the tables, 33 have fallen and four have retained their position.

East Asian institutions made strong progress in the global index of academic prestige. Peking University in China creeps up one place to 45th, while its close rival, Tsinghua University, rises two places to joint 50th.

Top institutions in China, South Korea, Singapore and Japan make gains – Chinese mainland now has two top 50 universities, but Hong Kong’s flagship loses ground. Hong Kong lost a top 200 institution (City University of Hong Kong) this year and now has only three representatives.

"Chinese mainland continues its march up the rankings and can now boast two top 50 representatives. " Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education Rankings, said in an email to People’s Daily Online.

"Both Peking and Tsinghua universities improve their positions and edge closer to the best in the world. Both act as national flagship institutions, attracting global talent and inspiring others."

He noted that the power shift from West to East is not as dramatic this year as the US and the UK have both managed to arrest alarming falls at the national level. But the trend is continuing: the vast majority of continental Europe’s leading institutions have slipped, while those leading the East Asian nations have for the most part risen yet again.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings used 13 separate performance indicators to examine a university’s strengths against all its core missions – teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

（Editor：LiXiang、Yao Chun）