This undated photo shows students walking on the Hung Hom campus of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Hong Kong. (EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY)

Four Hong Kong universities have moved up in the Asia University Rankings 2023 released by the Times Higher Education, with the University of Hong Kong remaining in fourth place.

Five universities from Hong Kong are on the list’s top 100 universities.

Following HKU, the Chinese University of Hong Kong rose one spot from last year and is now ranked sixth. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology jumped two spots to rank seventh, surpassing last year’s sixth-ranked University of Tokyo in Japan.

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University moved up one place to rank 14th, while the City University of Hong Kong climbed eight spots to rank 16th.

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The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology jumped two spots to rank seventh, surpassing last year’s sixth-ranked University of Tokyo in Japan

Tsinghua University in Beijing topped the list for a consecutive fifth year, while Peking University and the National University of Singapore ranked second and third respectively.

The ranking covered 31 countries and regions and included 669 universities, 53 more than last year. The evaluation factors include teaching environment, research volume, income, and reputation, research influence, international outlook, and knowledge transfer income.

The Times Higher Education (THE) stated that the scores of Asian universities increased significantly, particularly universities from Hong Kong. Saudi Arabia were higher than the average score.

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THE also pointed out that Asian universities were paying more attention to international students, foreign academics and employees, and starting more international research collaborations.

With contributions from Mike Wong.