The recently released QS World University Rankings 2026 report has, as usual, some winners and losers. This is out of the 1,501 institutions assessed (an increase of 112 from 2025) but also with evolution, with 478 universities moving up and 573 moving down. What has happened to Hong Kong’s elite tertiary education institutes, where we have had, for some years now, four or five universities in the global top 100 across various ranking programs? This is a feat currently unmatched by any other international city. This is something for which we should all be proud, but also something hard to maintain in a highly competitive landscape. As I mentioned in a previous article, we tamper with this at our peril, as such metrics, whether you agree with their accuracy or not, are surprisingly significant in how they are perceived, utilized, and acted upon by all key stakeholders.
One standout in the QS rankings for 2026 is my own University of Hong Kong, which has now risen to its highest-ever ranking of 11 in the world! This is up from 17 last year, itself a high-water mark at the time, and up from 21-26 in the few years preceding it. Of all the top global universities jockeying for position in the top 30, HKU is one of the biggest movers. This is perhaps, to some, a surprise as we knock on the door of the top 10 for the first time. I am less surprised. Being embedded within enables a close view of what our senior management team, led by our indefatigable vice-chancellor, has strived to achieve over the last five to seven years. Our policies, investments, and vision are yielding abundant results. Indeed, in the QS rankings at least, HKU has now leapfrogged the Chinese mainland’s two top-20 global universities, Peking University and Tsinghua University. That should make for a few ripples in upper-echelon thinking.
This is, of course, following our recent budget constraints, which have affected the annual government support to our universities. However, these cuts have not had enough time to percolate through in terms of service levels, staffing across support, administration, research, and teaching, as well as infrastructure and modernization shortfalls in our laboratories and teaching spaces, and, of course, morale. This last factor is less tangible than the other metrics, but its decline can be devastating in terms of its overall impact on staff retention, performance, and motivation. These factors will ultimately impact the rankings and, therefore, the basis on which many homegrown, mainland, and overseas students make their choices.
It will be interesting to see if the 4 percent cuts to Hong Kong tertiary education affect the standing of our elite universities in the QS rankings and other ranking programs over the next few years. They must have some effect eventually if such cuts are maintained or increased. I acknowledged the need for much of Hong Kong society to share the burden of our city’s post-COVID-19 budgetary problems. Still, I was concerned about the financial contraction imposed on specific areas, especially our universities. I hope they can soon be reversed.
Nevertheless, the unprecedented results for HKU reflect our robust leadership, which has faced controversial governance issues from some quarters. These stunning back-to-back results should silence these critics.
We need to protect, invest in, leverage, and publicize our city’s tertiary education excellence based on such ranking results precisely at this time when other globally leading jurisdictions are imposing student sanctions on visas and other issues that are deterring interest and applications
The QS, abbreviated from the full moniker Quacquarelli Symonds, is a higher education analytics firm recognized and appreciated by most in the industry as the “gold standard” for mapping a university’s global ranking. It was inaugurated in 2004, in partnership with the Times Higher Education (THE) magazine, to provide a comparative and independent source of data on university rankings compiled from various performance factors combined in objective ways. Since 2009, QS and THE have published their assessments using similar but distinct methodologies and data streams, resulting in somewhat divergent rankings; however, the top 10 to 20 in both have a significant degree of overlap. Both are highly respected and pored over by prospective students wanting guidance about what university to choose, by university management who care how these rankings might affect their reputations, pulling power and so their bottom line, and even governments and agencies who hold the purse strings and decide what tacit and other support might be needed to keep their top national educational icons competitive as a critical factor of soft-power projection.
So what about our other top universities in Hong Kong? The Chinese University of Hong Kong has retained its citywide second-ranked university status for four of the last five years, with rankings ranging from its highest-ever ranking this year of 32, a low of 47 in 2024, and in the mid-to-late 30s in the other three years. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has been ranked in the top 50 for all of the last five years, except in 2024, when it was ranked 60. However, it has also shown the most significant fluctuation, ranging from 34 to 60. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University has remained steadfast and stable, consistently ranking between 54 (in 2026, the highest-ever ranking) and 66. Finally, the City University of Hong Kong completes the list of our great universities in the global top 100 and again has had a relatively narrow ranking range, from 53 to 70, with a ranking of 63 in 2026. One interesting statistic is that HKU, CUHK and PolyU have all achieved their highest-ever rankings in the QS rankings for 2026, a noteworthy and impressive achievement. Another interesting statistic is that all but one of Hong Kong’s top five universities had a bad year in 2024, recording their worst rankings by an average of nine ranking points. In essence, annual fluctuations are normal and to be expected, but trends over five years are significant. Indeed, among all our top universities, HKU again leads the pack in rising to greater heights.
But what of it?
We need to protect, invest in, leverage, and publicize our city’s tertiary education excellence based on such ranking results precisely at this time when other globally leading jurisdictions are imposing student sanctions on visas and other issues that are deterring interest and applications. Their loss can be our gain!
The author is director of the Laboratory for Space Research, the University of Hong Kong.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
