Two prestigious Hong Kong universities — the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) — have entered the top 50 of Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025 (THE), with CUHK ascending nine places, reaching its highest position to date.
As per the list released on Wednesday, HKU maintained its 35th position, remaining the highest-ranked university in Hong Kong, while CUHK secured the 44th spot.
Additionally, three other universities broke into the top 100. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology slipped two places to 66th.
READ MORE: Five Hong Kong universities listed among world’s top 100
City University of Hong Kong has risen to 80th place, and Hong Kong Polytechnic University has climbed to 84th place.
Hong Kong Baptist University has achieved its best result since 2012, ranking among the 251th to 300th positions.
The list covers 2,092 universities in 115 regions around the world. Focusing on research-intensive universities, it is based on five primary and 18 secondary indicators that evaluate the fundamental aspects of teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and internationalization. This ranking has been published since 2004.
Besides HKU and CUHK, four universities on the Chinese mainland — Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University and Zhejiang University — also ranked among the top 50 of the list.
CUHK has ranked among top 100 of the list for nine consecutive years. Achieving the highest position in the overall ranking, it also secured the 13th spot in terms of research quality and obtained a perfect score of 100 points in six indicators — institutional income, research productivity, research income, research excellence, patents, and international staff. Its score in research reputation also showed significant improvement.
The university’s president Rocky Tuan Sung-chi expressed his pride in the milestone performance, saying the ranking recognizes CUHK’s breakthroughs in research quality and knowledge transfer outcomes. He mentioned that seven of the university’s projects have secured funding under the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government’s Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme (RAISe+ Scheme), the highest number among all Hong Kong universities.
READ MORE: PolyU jumps in Times varsity rankings, HKU still top in HK
Freddy Boey Yin Chiang, president of CityU, said that the university will remain steadfast in its commitment to fostering inspirational, interactive and innovative education, embracing global trends and providing more opportunities for staff and students, in the hope of contributing to the Hong Kong community and the world.
CityU obtained a full score in the“industry” indicator, once again ranking among the world’s best. It also demonstrated strong performance in international outlook and research quality.
HKBU said that it will regard this ranking as an important reference to enhance its teaching and research standards, and strengthen its cross-disciplinary teaching and research capabilities.
Contact the writer at atlasshao@chinadailyhk.com
