Progress for Chinese Universities in QS University Rankings: Asia 2015

The QS University Rankings: Asia 2015, released today, reveals strong progress for leading universities in China. The nation accounts for a quarter of Asia’s top 100 universities, and of these 25 leading Chinese universities, 16 have this year improved their positions in the ranking.

These gains have largely been driven by improvements in research productivity, reflecting sustained high levels of public and private investment, though this has yet to fully translate into comparably high levels of research impact, assessed by calculating citations per paper.

China’s highest-ranked institution, Peking University, climbs one place this year to reach 7^th place. It’s closely followed by Tsinghua University, which has gained three positions to rank 11^th.

Meanwhile the National University of Singapore (NUS) retains the overall top spot in the ranking, with fellow Singapore institution Nanyang Technological University (NTU) climbing from 7^th to 4^th. Hong Kong and South Korea also retain a strong presence among Asia’s higher education elite, claiming the remaining top-10 positions.

Published annually since 2009, the QS University Rankings: Asia highlights the top 300 universities in Asia, based on a methodology designed to reflect regional challenges and priorities. After China, which has 74 entries overall, Japan remains the most-represented country in the ranking, with 68 Japanese institutions featured. Next is South Korea, taking 45 places, followed by Taiwan (28), Malaysia (21) and India (17).

The other Asian countries featured in the top 300 are: Thailand (11 universities), Pakistan (10), Hong Kong (7), Indonesia (7), Philippines (4), Singapore, Vietnam and Bangladesh (2), Sri Lanka, Brunei and Macau (1).

For expert commentary on the QS University Rankings: Asia 2015, the supplementary report is available to read online. Join the conversation on Twitter with #QSWUR.