This file photo dated May 23, 2011 shows the Loke Yew Hall of the University of Hong Kong. (PHOTO/HKSAR GOVERNMENT)

LONDON – The University of Hong Kong was among three Hong Kong universities to take the top 10 positions in the Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Rankings 2021, maintaining its fourth place in the list released on Wednesday.

The university in Pok Fu Lam on the Hong Kong Island has been ranked within the top five of the list since 2013. The Chinese University of Hong Kong rose one place to seventh while the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology dropped three places to eighth, according to the latest rankings. 

The rankings contain 551 universities, up from 489 in 2020, involving 30 countries and regions

Tsinghua University topped the list for a third consecutive year, while Peking University maintained its position in second place.

Two Singapore universities – National University of Singapore (3rd) and Nanyang Technological University (5th) – rounded out the top five.

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The rankings contain 551 universities, up from 489 in 2020, involving 30 countries and regions.

Three more institutes from Hong Kong secured top-100 spots on the rankings. The City University of Hong Kong fell to 19th from 16th, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University climbed one place to 23rd, while the Hong Kong Baptist University rose to 62nd from 75th. 

A total of 91 Chinese mainland universities were in the latest rankings, after 116 of Japan in terms of representation.

The Chinese mainland was also the best represented in the top 50, holding 15 positions, with Central South University (44th) and South China University of Technology (50th) as the latest additions. Of the 15, 13 have improved or maintained their previous ranks.

The THE Asia University Rankings 2021 used the same 13 performance indicators as the THE World University Rankings, but they were recalibrated to reflect the attributes of Asia's institutions.

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The universities were judged across performance indicators grouped into five areas: teaching (25 percent), research (30 percent), citations (30 percent), international outlook (7.5 percent), and industry income (7.5 percent). 

With Xinhua inputs