Three universities in HK in top 10 of rankings of young institutions

Three Hong Kong universities are in the top 10 of the world’s youngest institutions, with the University of Science and Technology maintaining its second place in the annual ranking.

Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University also retained its top spot in the latest ranking of the world’s top 50 universities under 50 years old, compiled by London-based education company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).

The City University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University both kept their fourth and sixth positions respectively on the list, while the Hong Kong Baptist University rose to 19th place from last year’s 22nd.

The annual ranking, which was first published in 2012, covered 162 universities across the world under 50 years old this year. The universities are ranked based on weighed factors including academic reputation (40 per cent), employer reputation (10 per cent), student-to-faculty ratio (20 per cent), citations per faculty (20 per cent), and international faculty and student ratio (10 per cent). The reputation scores are based on global academics and employers surveys.

QS head of research Ben Sower said that there was a trend of more technology-oriented universities leading the list, with six of the top 10 universities being institutions specialised in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

“The rankings show those young universities focusing on STEM areas have the best chance to challenge traditional elite universities,” Sower said.

Australia,with 10 universities on the ranking, has the highest number of institutions within the top 50, followed by Spain with five universities. Malaysia and Hong Kong both have four universities in the ranking, while South Korea and Taiwan have three each.

Universities from Asia occupy six places in the top 10, and take up 16 in total in the top 50.

(SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST)