Six universities from Chinese mainland make top 100 in Times university rankings

Tsinghua University Photo: CFP

China's Tsinghua University became the first in Asia to make it into the top 20 of the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, while the number of Chinese mainland universities ranked in the top 100 has doubled to six. 

The THE ranking had Tsinghua University tied with Duke University at 20th place, up three places from the previous year. 

The other five universities are Peking University (23rd), Fudan University (joint 70th), University of Science and Technology of China (87th), Zhejiang University (94th), and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (100th). In 2016, China had only two universities in the top 200.

The rise in the ranking reflects China's efforts at "improving the quality" of higher education institutes over the years, Sun Lijian, director of the Financial Research Center at Fudan University told the Global Times on Sunday. 

Fudan has established itself as one of the top-level universities in the world by implementing many measures including recruiting  overseas talent, holding academic exchange conferences and inviting professionals with rich practical experiences to teach, said Sun, adding that science and engineering education in China is at the forefront of the world.

Since the pandemic outbreak, many universities around the world have taught courses online or closed their campus, igniting a debate over the future of international education. 

China's universities have steadily promoted online education along with the rapid development of the internet. 

Under the current circumstances, Sun said parents and students need to be rational about attending an overseas university, but it's still a good choice to broaden someone's horizons to go abroad.

The THE World University Rankings is seen as one of the comprehensive global rankings, as it evaluates teaching, research, and international outlook.

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