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Universities in Hong Kong
Hong KongEducation

Most Hong Kong universities rise in QS global rankings despite disruptions from months of anti-government protests in city

  • Six of the seven local institutions listed in Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings 2021 saw an improvement
  • University of Hong Kong moves up three places to 22nd among 1,000 global institutions, while University of Science and Technology rises five spots to 27th

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Polytechnic University was the scene of violent clashes between radical protesters and police last year. Photo: Dickson Lee
Chan Ho-him
Most of Hong Kong’s universities scored better marks in the latest global rankings, with two achieving a record best despite the months-long anti-government protests last year that turned several campuses into battlegrounds.

Six of the seven local institutions listed in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings 2021 saw an improvement, with the best-ranked University of Hong Kong moving up three places to 22nd among 1,000 of its global peers, and the University of Science and Technology rising five spots to 27th, its best placing.

Polytechnic University – scene of some of the most violent clashes between radical protesters and police and a subsequent lockdown at its Hung Hom campus last November – had the biggest jump in rankings among the local institutions, rising from 91st to 75th globally.

Researchers said the higher rankings were mainly because the score for citations per faculty had risen year on year for all the universities, while HKU’s record-breaking performance was primarily due to improvements in its academic standing and research impact.

Six indicators were used in compiling the annual rankings, including academic and employer reputation, citations per faculty, student to faculty ratio, as well as international student and faculty ratios.

Chinese University rose three places to 43rd while City University went from 52nd to 48th. Lingnan University, which was ranked at 591-600 in 2020, improved to 571-580.

Baptist University, the only local institution to fall in the rankings, slipped three places from last year to No 264, which QS said “was not a dramatic change in performance”.

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A year of anti-government protests in Hong Kong

A year of anti-government protests in Hong Kong
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